ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan foreign office on Wednesday dismissed India’s assertion that a 2019 suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir was masterminded by a Pakistani national, calling it a ‘mischievous’ attempt to implicate Islamabad.

India’s National Investigation Agency filed a charge sheet on Tuesday that named Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed, and 19 others among the accused in the Pulwama attack that killed more than 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers and pushed the two countries toward yet another conflict in the region. 

“The investigation has revealed that the Pulwama attack was the result of a well-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by Pakistan-based leadership of terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad,” the NIA document said. 

In an official statement issued in Islamabad, the foreign office rejected the Indian “charge sheet,” adding that it was “patently designed to further the [ruling] BJP’s anti-Pakistan rhetoric and its narrow domestic political interests.” 

“At the outset, Pakistan had rejected India’s baseless allegations and expressed readiness to extend cooperation on the basis of any actionable information,” the statement said. “India failed to provide any credible evidence for its invective and has instead been using the attack for its malicious propaganda campaign against Pakistan.” 

“The timing of the Pulwama attack, just two months before the Lok Sabha [parliamentary] elections in India, and the fact that explosives used in the attack were collected from inside the IIOJK [Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir], and the key accused persons in the attack have already been killed by Indian forces, raise too many questions. The world knows well as to who benefited the most from Pulwama attack and drew electoral dividends,” it added. 

The official statement also said Pakistani authorities had constituted a high level investigation team to examine the contents of a paper shared by the Indian government after the attack. 

“As the information provided by India was incomplete, patchy and unsubstantiated, Pakistan shared two Aide-mémories, seeking further information and supporting evidence from India. India has been unable to provide any corroboration of its unfounded allegations,” the statement said, adding: “Allegations against Pakistan seek to divert attention from India’s state-terrorism in IIOJK, grave human rights violations of the Kashmiri people under Indian occupation, and the RSS-BJP regime’s mishandling of domestic issues.”