India Hits Back at Pakistan's Train Hijack Claim, Says World Knows Terrorism's Epicenter

India strongly rejected Pakistan's claims that New Delhi is to blame for the current ethnic strife in its neighbour.

Rather than deflecting accusations, Pakistan should concentrate on eradicating the problems within itself, India asserted, pointing out that the world knows well about the real centre of global terrorism.

In response to queries from the media on Pakistan's statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) released a statement on Friday dismissing the allegations in toto.

"We categorically reject the spurious allegations put forth by Pakistan. The entire world is well aware of the source of global terrorism. Pakistan should introspect rather than fingers pointing and attributing its internal issues and failure to others," stated MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

India's stinging response comes in the wake of Pakistan's insinuation that New Delhi had a hand in inciting instability in Balochistan.

The Indian government comments came after a top Pakistani official accused India of "sponsoring terrorism" with the aim of destabilizing neighboring countries.

The charges emerged in the aftermath of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) hijacking of the Jaffar Express. The train, bound for Peshawar from Quetta, was taken hostage for about 30 hours, leaving 21 hostages and four security guards dead.

Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan indicated that the attack had been coordinated from abroad but did not point fingers directly at India. He asserted that the militants had been in touch with their handlers inside Afghanistan during the crisis.

When asked about Pakistan's response to India's reported involvement with the BLA, Khan asserted that his nation's policy is still the same. "There is no change in our policy. And once again, the facts have not changed.India is engaged in sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan. What I was saying was, in this specific incident, we have evidence of calls being traced to Afghanistan," he said in a press briefing.