Pakistan rejects claim of China’s role in border clash

PAKISTAN’S army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday (7) rejected Delhi’s allegation that his military received active support from longtime ally China in its conflict with India in May.

The Indian Army’s deputy chief, Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, said last week that China gave Islamabad “live inputs” on key Indian positions.

Singh did not elaborate on how India knew about the live inputs from China.

Regarding the possibility of China providing satellite imagery or other real-time intelligence, India’s chief of defence staff had said such imagery was commercially available and could have been procured from China or elsewhere.

The “insinuations regarding external support” are “irresponsible and factually incorrect”, Munir said in an address to graduating officers of the national security and war course in Islamabad, according to an army statement.

Pakistani officials have previously dismissed allegations of receiving active support from China in the conflict.

Beijing and Islamabad have longstanding close relations, with billions of dollars of Chinese investment in the country’s energy and infrastructure.

India’s relationship with China meanwhile was strained after a 2020 border clash that sparked a four-year military standoff, but tensions began to ease after the countries reached a pact to step back in October.

India and Pakistan used missiles, drones and artillery fire during the four days of fighting in May – their worst in decades – triggered by an attack in April on tourists in Indian Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, before agreeing to a ceasefire.

Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack in April.

Singh also added that Turkey provided key support to Pakistan during the fighting, equipping it with Bayraktar and “numerous other” drones, as well as “trained individuals”.

Ankara has strong ties with Islamabad, and had expressed solidarity with it during the clash, prompting Indians to boycott everything from Turkish coffee to holidays in the country.

Turkey’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the allegations.