Keeping up the tirade against India, Pakistan President Arif Alvi has accused New Delhi of "supporting militancy and terrorism" in Afghanistan and using the neighboring country's soil for hybrid warfare in Pakistan.

A statement issued by the President's Secretariat quoted Alvi as saying that terrorist activities in the country, including the June 23 blast in Lahore city, the attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange last year and the network operated by Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, were "carried out with Indian support to destabilize Pakistan".

"India is hatching conspiracies against Pakistan to destabilize it by funding militant organizations to carry out terrorist activities," the president said while addressing participants of the 7th National Workshop on Balochistan.

He added that India would "not succeed in [its] evil designs" because Pakistan's armed forces were fully capable of overcoming security challenges, especially the fifth-generation war.

Alvi’s harsh statement is the latest in the recent bout of angry exchanges between India and Pakistan over two drone-related incidents – spotting of the unmanned aerial vehicles over the Indian High Commission complex in Pakistan’s capital city Islamabad and an attack on the Indian Air force station in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir - and a bomb explosion in Punjab province’s capital Lahore city that killed three persons and injured 24 others.

New Delhi has accused Islamabad of involvement in the drone attack on the IAF complex in Jammu as also in the spotting of a drone over the high commission complex. Pakistan has in turn alleged involvement of the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in the powerful June 23 bomb explosion near the residence of proscribed Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Lahore.

Both countries have rejected each other’s allegations.

Talking about the restive Balochistan, Alvi said the government was "seriously focusing" on the social and economic uplift of the province. The Gwadar port, along with projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), would improve the lives of the people of Balochistan, he added.

The president highlighted the "enormous opportunities" that would be brought to Balochistan as a result of CPEC when other regional countries, particularly Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, would use CPEC for their own exports and conduct their trade through the Gwadar port.

The minerals and fishery sectors of Balochistan had "immense potential" and the federal government was taking serious steps to utilize their potential for the benefit of the people of Balochistan, President Alvi said.

He appreciated that the political and military leadership of the country was taking a keen interest in the development of Balochistan, the statement said, according to Pakistan’s leading media outlet Dawn.

"Pakistan is emerging and the economic policies of the government have started paying dividends as evident from the economic indicators which were on upward trajectory.

"Pakistan has been making sincere efforts to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan," the statement quoted Alvi as saying, adding that he stressed the need for a peaceful political settlement to the existing situation in Afghanistan.

(SAM)