The Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah has given Pakistan’s reaction to Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s statement, “We [India] have to use terrorists to neutralise terrorists.” Khalilullah said that this statement was a matter of concern for both Pakistan and the rest of the world, bemoaned the financial and human losses that the county has suffered due to terrorism and emphasised that Pakistan condemns terrorism. The spokesman also claimed that India was trying to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and that the Indian media was running a campaign against the project. In light of the fact that top military commanders and politicians have been expressing concerns about India’s Research and Analysis Wing’s (RAW) involvement in terrorism in Pakistan, it is not surprising that Khalilullah would follow suit and blame India for supporting proscribed organisations here. The continuing rivalry between the two neighbours cannot be denied, but there is no evidence or reason to believe that either India’s government or any of its agencies are engaged in a proxy war with Pakistan. Parrikar’s statement was undoubtedly irresponsible and has been widely criticised, even by Indian politicians and media, but it is by no means proof that India is supporting terrorist organisations in Pakistan. This is not a claim that can hold up in the UN or any other international platform because not only is it unverifiable, such an endeavour would cause the international community to question whether Pakistan has had a role in the past in nurturing and providing safe havens to the same groups that we are now at war with. At the most, Parrikar’s comment can be considered an errant, foolish suggestion. If India was supporting terrorism in Pakistan, it is unlikely that the government would publicly own up to it. It is also unlikely that Islamist militants looking to destabilise Pakistan to impose their own version of Sharia on the country would accept India as their patron, particularly with the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) currently in power. Pakistan’s true enemies are rooted within its communities and live amongst the very people who become their prey. Currently, Islamic State (IS) is rapidly gaining more ground and militants who attacked an American woman in Karachi left flyers that indicated affiliation with IS. Several militant groups in Pakistan have been pledging allegiance to IS in the hope of gaining its support, yet the FO continues to deny any IS presence in Pakistan. The government should be aware of the possibility that IS is recruiting militants from Pakistan and providing support to terrorists here. It is no use assigning blame on foreign governments now that Pakistan is finally combating the terrorists; a proactive approach needs to be taken to root out terrorism, which should rely on facts, intelligence and analysis rather than conspiracy theories. *