Rejecting India's demand for deportation of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Hizbul Muhajideen chief Syed Salahuddin, Pakistan on Friday claimed there was nothing to warrant pointing finger at it in the Mumbai train blasts.
A strongly-worded statement by Pakistan Foreign Ministry said the fact that after 10 days of the blasts India had little to say other than to mention Ibrahim and Salahuddin, "demonstrates that there was nothing to warrant the irresponsible act of finger-pointing at Pakistan immediately after the Mumbai attack."
The statement came after Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna demanded the deportation of Ibrahim and Salahuddin and a ban on Jamat-ud-Dawa, the political wing of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist outfit, a day after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf offered to help in the probe into the blasts if India gave proof.
The foreign ministry statement said India made similar demands and allegations after the attacks on Indian Parliament and Chattisinghpura massacre of Sikhs in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Pakistan rejects the rehash of baseless allegations made by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman while commenting on the president's offer to help in the Mumbai blasts investigations," it said.
"This has become a routine with India. On earlier occasions, similar Indian accusations were belied by independent enquiries such as in the case of Chattisinghpura incident of March 2000 and the December 2001 attack on Indian Parliament, which exposed involvement of elements internal to India," the statement said.
More from rediff