ISLAMABAD: In an apparent bid to shift responsibility for rising incidents of terrorism, Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Monday that India's intelligence agency RAW is paying local criminals in Pakistan to sabotage peace there.
Rashid made these remarks during a Senate briefing, the Dawn newspaper reported. He informed that five to six outfits, including Daesh, Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan, and some Al Qaeda offshoots, were operating in the country's Balochistan province.
"Our security forces are vigilant and will continue to take action against terrorists who want to destabilize the country," he added.
On the issue of talks between the Imran Khan government and proscribed TTP, Rashid said the talks were not being held anymore.
"Talks are not possible with those [elements] who are against the integrity of Pakistan," he emphasized.
The minister also stated that Pakistan did not feature directly in the talks, which were held between the Taliban and the TTP.
Amid the recent rise in incidents of terrorism in the country, Pakistan media has raised concern about the trend that experts say may continue in the coming weeks.
Earlier, Rashid had informed that his ministry had alerted all armed forces in the country, asking them to stay vigilant.
An opinion piece published in the Dawn newspaper raised concerns about how the TTP has escalated terrorist attacks in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban took power in Afghanistan.
Even Pakistan's interior minister last week admitted that a "surge in the wave [of terrorism]" had been observed in the country in the recent past, with terrorism incidents rising by around "35 percent" since August 15.
Writing for Dawn, Pakistan security analyst Muhammad Amir Rana said that any probable alliance between the TTP and Al Qaeda or with ETIM against Chinese interests can prove lethal and cause a diplomatic crisis.
He cautioned that Pakistan has to devise a different approach to deal with the TTP threat.