ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 15 (UPI) -- Pakistan has rejected the claim of a Taliban commander that abducted Indian engineer K. Suryanarayana was killed at the government's behest.
A Taliban commander Sunday claimed that the slain Indian engineer was killed at the insistence of Pakistan's Inter State Intelligence.
"Such unsubstantiated claims by self-proclaimed commanders are not worthy of a reaction," said Tasneem Aslam, Pakistani foreign office spokeswoman.
"We have been condemning killing of civilians wherever they occurred as acts of terrorism. It is not the government policy to sponsor killing of civilians," she said.
"Reports such as these are not worth commenting on. But if anybody has any evidence, they are welcome to forward it," Aslam said, adding that Afghan television had made such claims against Pakistan in the past, attributing them to Afghan officials, but that the claims had later been denied.
"These days anybody can make claims through Internet claiming to be Taliban. Such reports are not worth commenting," she maintained.
India has so far refrained from commenting on the story. The Indian foreign office said it would like to verify the authenticity of the report before reacting.
