Pakistan has rejected India’s allegation that social media networking sites here were responsible for whipping up communal sentiments in India, which triggered an exodus of people from the northeast from various Indian cities, as “baseless and unfounded’’.
While Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had asked his Indian counterpart, Sushil Kumar Shinde, to provide evidence to back up the allegation, the Foreign Office was quoted by The News as describing the charge as baseless and detrimental to the effort to improve bilateral ties.
Mr. Shinde asked Mr. Malik on Sunday to rein in those elements in Pakistan who are allegedly trying to create trouble in India with fear-mongering on social networking websites. The two ministers spoke to each other when Mr. Malik telephoned Mr. Shinde on Sunday to greet him on Id-ul-Fitr.
“We totally reject these allegations and insinuations. Such unsubstantiated statements are not very helpful in creating a conducive environment necessary for improving the relationship between our two countries,” the Foreign Office spokesman told The News .
Maintaining that the tools of modern technology were not in the hands of a single person or capital, the spokesman said India was perhaps trying to “externalise’’ a very serious problem by pointing the finger at Pakistan.
