A day after defence minister Rajnath Singh said India would enter Pakistan to kill them if terrorists try to disturb peace in India and run away to the neighbouring country, Islamabad on Saturday described the statement as “provocative”, Dawn reported.

Rajnath Singh, during an interview with CNN News18 on Saturday, was responding to a question on a report by British newspaper The Guardian that claimed Indian intelligence agencies carried out assassinations of terrorists in Pakistan as part of an emboldened approach to national security after 2019.

Relations between India and Pakistan have worsened since a 2019 suicide bombing of a CRPF convoy in Kashmir’s Pulwama was traced to Pakistan-based militants, leading India to carry out an airstrike on a militant base in Pakistan.

Pakistan said earlier this year it had credible evidence linking Indian agents to the killing of two of its citizens on its soil. India said it was “false and malicious” propaganda.

“India’s assertion of its preparedness to extra-judiciously execute more civilians, arbitrarily pronounced as ‘terrorists’, inside Pakistan constitutes a clear admission of culpability,” said the Pakistan Foreign Office on Saturday, reported Dawn. “It is imperative for the international community to hold India accountable for its heinous and illegal actions,” it added.

The statement further said, “Pakistan has always demonstrated its commitment to peace in the region. However, our desire for peace should not be misconstrued. History attests to Pakistan’s firm resolve and ability to protect and defend itself.”

India is yet to issue an official statement in response to the Pakistan Foreign Office’s latest statement.

The external affairs minister, in its response to The Guardian, has already denied the claims made by the newspaper, reiterating an earlier statement that they were “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”. The ministry emphasised a previous denial made by external affairs minister S Jaishankar that targeted killings in other countries were “not the government of India’s policy”.

What did Rajnath Singh say?

“If terrorists from the neighbouring country try to disturb the peace in Bharat or try to carry out terror activities in Bharat, we will give them a befitting reply. (Koi bhi terrorist hamare parosi desh se yadi hamare Bharat ko disturb karneki koshish karega, yahan par yadi atankbadi harkate karega, toh uska muh tod jawab denge),” Rajnath Singh told CNN News18 when asked about The Guardian report.

“If they run away to Pakistan, we will enter Pakistan to kill them (Yadi woh bhag kar Pakistan mein jayega, toh Pakistan mein ghus kar marenge)… Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken the truth… India has the capability and Pakistan has also started understanding that,” Rajnath Singh added.

“Whatever the prime minister has said is absolutely true. And India has that strength and Pakistan has also started realising this,” he said in the interview.

At the same time, the defence minister said India always wants to maintain good relations with its neighbours.

“India wants to maintain cordial relations with its neighbour. Look at our history. We have never attacked any country or even occupied an inch of the territory of any other country. This is India’s character…. if someone tries intimidating India by fomenting terror on our soil, they will not be spared,” Rajnath Singh said.

(With inputs from agencies)