India Dismisses Pakistan’s Indian Proxy Claim Amid Cross-Border Strikes on Afghanistan

New Delhi: India has rejected Pakistan’s claim that an “Indian proxy” was behind Saturday’s attack on the Sindh Rangers headquarters in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar, which left three Rangers dead. India called the allegation by Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi baseless, saying Pakistan would do better to look inward and act against terror infrastructure on its own soil rather than pointing fingers at others.

The exchange comes a day after Pakistan launched a major cross-border military operation along the Afghanistan border, with coordinated airstrikes and a ground assault that Islamabad said killed 29 militants hiding in terrorist camps.

“We have seen Pakistani reports making baseless allegations against India regarding the recent incident in Karachi,” Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal said.

“We categorically reject them. Instead of pointing fingers at others, Pakistan would do better to look inwards, take credible action against the terror infrastructure on its territory, and rid itself of its proclivity to rely on terrorism as an instrument of state policy,” he added.

Pakistani officials said three militants died in the suicide attack in Karachi, while one was arrested, who they claimed was an Afghan national. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Cross-border strikes

On the strikes themselves, Pakistan’s Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, said security forces targeted militant hideouts used by the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

In a post on X, he said the action was a direct response to repeated terrorist attacks against Pakistani civilians and security personnel. However, the Taliban government in Afghanistan condemned the strikes strongly, calling them a “cowardly act” and describing the operation as “a crime and atrocity”.

Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said in a social media post on Monday that the previous night’s attacks had killed 36 civilians, including women and children, and injured 163 others, citing reports available so far. He added that three residential houses had been completely destroyed.

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have remained tense for months, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of allowing TTP militants to operate from its territory. Kabul has repeatedly denied the allegations, insisting that Afghan soil is not being used to launch attacks against neighbouring countries.

Pakistan struck Kabul and other Afghan provinces on October 9, 2025, targeting a TTP leader who survived. The Afghan Taliban retaliated two days later by hitting Pakistani border posts.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey brokered the October 19, 2025, ceasefire in Doha, with the same trio backing a brief Eid al-Fitr truce in March 2026. China also hosted talks in April where both sides agreed to avoid further escalation. Yet despite all these efforts, the core disputes – over the Durand Line and Pakistan’s claims that Afghanistan shelters TTP militants – remain unresolved, and tensions keep flaring.

The operation on Sunday marks another escalation in this ongoing conflict, which has seen repeated cross-border strikes and retaliatory attacks throughout the year despite the international mediation efforts noted above.

In a related development, Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior has ordered a nationwide crackdown on undocumented Afghan citizens, directing provincial authorities to begin arrests from July 10 under the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP), targeting Afghan citizens residing in the country without valid visas. Authorities have been instructed to submit daily enforcement reports from July 11, with the government describing the campaign as a top national priority.