By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday said that India was “supporting militancy and terrorism” in Afghanistan and using the neighbouring country’s soil for hybrid warfare in Pakistan.
A statement issued by the President’s Secretariat quoted Alvi as saying that terrorist activities in the country, including the recent blast in Lahore’s Johar Town, the attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange last year and the network operated by Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, were “carried out with Indian support to destabilise Pakistan”.
“India is hatching conspiracies against Pakistan to destabilise it by funding militant organisations to carry out terrorist activities,” the president said while addressing participants of the 7th National Workshop on Balochistan. He added that India would “not succeed in [its] evil designs” because Pakistan’s armed forces were fully capable of overcoming security challenges, especially the fifth-generation war.
Talking about Balochistan, he said the government was “seriously focusing” on the social and economic uplift of the province. The Gwadar port, along with projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, would improve the lives of the people of Balochistan, he added.
The president highlighted the “enormous opportunities” that would be brought to Balochistan as a result of CPEC when other regional countries, particularly Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, would use CPEC for their own exports and conduct their trade through the Gwadar port.
