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Pakistan on Wednesday rejected India’s “mischievous” attempt to link a Pakistani organization with an ongoing murder investigation in the Udaipur city of Rajasthan.
“We have seen reports in a segment of the Indian media referring to investigations into the murder case in Udaipur, mischievously seeking to link the accused individuals, Indian nationals, to an organization in Pakistan,” read a statement issued by Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar.
“We categorically reject any such insinuations, which are typical of the BJP-RSS ‘Hindutva’-driven Indian regime’s attempts at maligning Pakistan, including by externalizing their internal issues through pointing of fingers toward Pakistan,” he continued. “Such malicious attempts will not succeed in misleading the people, either in India or abroad,” he added.
On Tuesday, Indian police had arrested two men accused of beheading a Hindu tailor in Udaipur, allegedly over his online support for a former official of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party who had provoked global protests after issuing derogatory remarks about Islam’s Prophet.
In a subsequent posting on Twitter, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had announced that both accused had been arrested and the government would ensure “strict punishment and speedy justice.” The supposed link to Pakistan, however, was voiced by Rajasthan Home Minister Rajendra Singh Yadav and Police Director General ML Lather, who had alleged that one of the accused had traveled to Karachi in 2014 for 45 days and visited the office of the Dawat-e-Islami.
“Then in 2018-19, he also had movements in Arab countries and visited Nepal a few times,” Yadav was quoted as saying by the Indian Express. “For the past 2-3 years, he had been making calls to 8-10 phone numbers from Pakistan,” he added, in a bid to further suggest that the accused was influenced by individuals in Pakistan.