'India planned attack on Pak navy base to kill Chinese engineer'

Image: A file photo of a plume of smoke rising after an explosion at the Mehran naval aviation base
Photographs: Reuters

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'.

Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base.

'India feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy'

Image: A file photo of rescue workers and journalists taking cover outside Mehran naval aviation base
Photographs: Athar Hussain/Reuters

"India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

According to it, the sources disclosed that sufficient evidence of Indian involvement in the attack has been found.

'India has access to terror outfits in Pak'

Image: Relatives carry the coffin of Javed Iqbal, a fire fighter who was killed during a gun battle against militants at the Mehran naval aviation base
Photographs: K Parvez/Reuters

The paper quoted sources as saying that India's access to terror outfits active in Pakistan through its consulates in Afghanistan poses a major threat to the internal security of the country.

This is the reason that Pakistan has always been voicing concern over the opening of an unjustified number of Indian consulates in the war-ravaged and lawless neighbouring country of Afghanistan, they added.

'RAW planned PNS Mehran attack'

Image: A Pakistani trooper abseils onto a ship during a military exercise
Photographs: Faisal Aziz/Reuters

"The attack on PNS Mehran was conceived by the top secret service of India -- Research and Analysis Wing -- with the primary objective of killing Chinese engineers with the destruction of expensive maritime surveillance aircraft of the Pakistan Navy being the secondary objective," said the sources.

"The final goal of such a daring assault was to give an impression to the international community that Pakistan was a highly fragile country vis-a-vis its internal security," they added.

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