Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, on Friday accused India of sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan, stating that Indian state-backed terrorism, ongoing since Pakistan’s inception, was behind the recent deadly attack in Khuzdar, Balochistan.

On May 21, a devastating blast targeted a school bus near Zero Point on the Quetta-Karachi highway as it transported students to the Army Public School in Khuzdar Cantonment. The bombing claimed at least six lives, including three students, and left over 40 others injured, most of whom were schoolchildren.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Interior Secretary Captain (retd) Khurram Muhammad Agha, the DG ISPR said: “India was planning and instructing terrorist activities taking place in Pakistan, the funding for which is also provided by India.” He stressed: “The attack in Balochistan had nothing to do with the Baloch identity, rather it was just India’s provocation.”

The remarks came a day after the army’s high command, during the 270th Corps Commanders Conference, also held India responsible for the Khuzdar attack and vowed to counter externally sponsored terrorism threatening Pakistan’s peace.

Lt Gen Chaudhry also linked India to previous terrorist incidents, including the attack on the Chinese envoy in Karachi in October 2024. He claimed: “The Indian social media accounts affiliated with the Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) posted about the attack beforehand.”

Referring to the hijacking of the Jaffar Express in March, where more than 400 passengers were taken hostage by the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), he added: “Before the Jaffer Express incident occurred, they [the social media accounts] were asking followers to ‘keep an eye on Pakistan today and tomorrow’.”

Lt Gen Chaudhry further noted how Indian media responded to the Khuzdar bombing: “These are all Indian accounts, affiliated with RAW [and] posting for BLA and Fitnah al Hindustan. What kind of a country celebrates acts of terrorism?”

DG ISPR shares the history of Indian-sponsored proxies in Pakistan since inception

“In 2009, the Pakistani government handed a dossier containing irrefutable evidence [of India’s involvement in terror attacks across Pakistan] to the Indian prime minister,” Lt Gen Chaudhry recalled. He further stated, “The publicly disclosed documents released in 2010 are part of history. In 2016, the world saw another ugly face of India-sponsored terrorism in Balochistan in the form of [Indian spy] Kulbushan Jadhav, a serving Indian naval officer.”

Kulbushan Jadhav was apprehended on March 3, 2016, in Balochistan’s Mashkel area during a counter-intelligence operation. He was accused of espionage and sabotage efforts against Pakistan.

“Then in [2020], a dossier full of evidence was presented to the United Nations. Very recently, the international media has seen confessions and acknowledgement of multiple surrendered terrorists of this Fitnah al Hindustan,” the DG ISPR added, referencing the term used by the government for Indian-sponsored terrorist groups in Balochistan.

Interior Secretary Capt (retd) Khurram Muhammad Agha, who addressed the press conference alongside Lt Gen Chaudhry, also laid blame on India for the May 21 Khuzdar school bus bombing that left at least six children dead and 31 others injured.

“In the aftermath of the despicable terrorist attack on a school bus in Khuzdar in the early morning of May 21, this cowardly attack targeted innocent children, our future, resulting in the tragic loss of six children and injuries to 31 others.”

He stressed the symbolic nature of the attack: “Let me be unequivocal that this was not an attack on a bus alone, it was an attack on our values, our education, and the very fabric of our society.”

Offering condolences, the interior secretary said: “On behalf of the government of Pakistan, I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims, we share their grief and we stand by them in this hour of immense suffering. The Ministry of Interior, in close cooperation with the provincial authorities and the law enforcement agencies, is looking into all aspects of this dastardly attack.”

Capt Agha stated that preliminary findings point toward a continuation of Indian-sponsored violence: “Initial findings confirmed that this attack was a continuity of a broader pattern of violence sponsored by India through Fitnah al Hindustan, operating under the tutelage and intelligence of the Indian intelligence agency, RAW [Research and Analysis Wing].”

He went on to say: “Having miserably failed in the so-called Operation Sindoor, the terror proxies of Hindustan have been tasked to accentuate their heinous attacks of terrorism in Balochistan and elsewhere. Let me be absolutely clear here, the people of Pakistan will not let them succeed.”

“Pakistan and its people, particularly in Balochistan, reject this nefarious design. The state has the capacity and the will to dismantle these networks and bring the perpetrators and their handlers to justice. Such actions will have consequences.”

The secretary also remarked on a shift in targets by Indian-backed groups: “In the past couple of years, having suffered immense casualties in their attempts against hard targets, Fitnah al Hindustan has resorted to hitting soft targets – wayfarers, labourers working on development projects, infrastructure and machinery – to paint a picture of loosening control of the State.”

“Much against the tradition and culture of the Baloch, these terrorists have stooped so low that innocent school children have now been targeted. I assure you that the State, in collaboration with the provincial governments and the state apparatus, will defeat them.”

“These Indian-sponsored terrorists have no place in Pakistan and our national discourse. We have commitment to bring an end to this violence. Our resolve is firm and our response will be decisive. They will not succeed.”