Islamabad: Taking full advantage of the controversy surrounding the killing of two Pakistani terrorists in Ansal Plaza shopping complex in Delhi, Pakistan on November 9 charged India with having "pre-meditated murder to discredit" Islamabad.

"The two persons shot dead by the Indian police are not Pakistani nationals," a Pakistan Foreign Office statement said, a day after its High Commission in New Delhi refused to accept bodies of the two terrorists on the grounds that they were not its nationals.

Citing reports in Indian media and an alleged eye witness Dr Hari Krishna's account that the two youths were killed in a fake encounter, the statement said, "It is a matter of grave concern, that the premeditated murder of two persons by the Indian police, is part of the concerted Indian policy to discredit Pakistan."

Calling for steps to reduce tensions between the two countries, it said, "Instead of playing to the Hindu fundamentalist gallery for purely political gains, New Delhi should respond positively to the endeavours of Islamabad for de-escalating the existing tension."

Besides the statement denying that the militants belonged to Pakistan, official media here circulated reports that the two youths could be Pakistani prisoners airlifted from Afghanistan.

Despite strong denials from Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, the Pakistan media periodically carried reports that India had airlifted plane loads of Pakistani prisoners held by the Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan.

PTI