Pakistan Rejects India's Claims of 200 Terror Arrests

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah announced the arrest of more than 200 operatives of the Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN) across 14 Indian states on August 12. Shah claimed the coordinated operation thwarted subversive attacks planned for India's 80th Independence Day on August 15. He asserted that the network was funded and backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), noting the recovery of pistols, IEDs, and grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings.

The Government of Pakistan categorically rejected these allegations as baseless. Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi characterized the claims as a "malicious campaign" intended to divert international attention from India's domestic security challenges and the oppression of its minorities. Andrabi counter-accused India of state-sponsored terrorism and targeted assassinations on foreign soil, citing the conviction of Indian naval commander Kulbhushan Jadhav as evidence of Indian subversion within Pakistan.

Further escalating the dispute, the Inter-Services Public Relations wing of the Pakistani military claimed India was attempting to portray a failed campaign, known as Marka-e-Haq, as a success. Meanwhile, India's National Investigation Agency is continuing its probe into the SBN for targeted killings and explosions in Punjab and Haryana, having already chargesheeted the group's leader as an absconder.