Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 12: In yet another blatant lie before the world, Pakistan has claimed that no terrorists are living on the Pakistani soil and the country was not giving shelter to any terrorists.
It also claimed that a few of those doing these “dirty work” of terrorism for the United States in the eighties were still living in Pakistan but they are all being “clean washed” and are no longer indulging in terror activities in Pakistan, or across the border in India or anywhere in the world.
“These (terrorist) leaders are no more… they are living, not dead, but do not indulge in terror activities, either in Pakistan or across the border in India or in any other country,” Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif told British broadcaster BBC in an interview.
He gave an emphatic “No” as answer to a question if there were terrorist leaders or terror groups were active in Pakistan. The interview took place hours after India-Pak military tension spiked against the backdrop of the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people, mostly civilians, were killed and the responsibility of the attack was taken by the “Resistant Front,” an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba. India has claimed that the Pahalgam attackers operates from Pakistan soil and with support from the deep state.
Azadeh Moshiri the BBC’s Pak correspondent had asked Mr Asif if there were terrorists leaders or terror groups active in Pakistan. The Pak Defence Minister responded with an emphatic “no.” Mr Asif also responded to questions about the United States’ belief that Pakistan continues to allow terror groups – like the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which was behind the 2019 Pulwama and 2016 Uri attacks, in which 59 soldiers were killed – to raise funds through ‘legitimate businesses.’
“These (terrorism and terrorists) are things from our past…” Mr Asif began, pointing to the US’ role in arming certain Afghanistan groups in the 1980s, during the Afghan-Soviet war. He argued that over the decades the US’ hand in creating and arming ‘mujahideen’ groups, which were later reborn as terrorist outfits, was forgotten and Pak was left holding the bag.
Among the outfits the US (and Pakistan too) had supported then included the Haqqani network, which had, and still has links with the Taliban and the Jaish and Lashkar groups. “The terrorists, which it is claimed that they are in Pakistan or their terrorist outfits are in Pakistan, they were allies of the US efforts in Afghanistan in the 80s. This thing keeps haunting us… that all these people who were actually our allies, or we were their allies… they’re all ‘dry-cleaned’ now, but we are still ‘dirty’. They still blame us for people who were their allies.”
“Who decides that your or me are terrorists or we are not terrorists?” “These (terrorist) leaders are no more… they are living, not dead, but do not indulge in terror activities, either in Pakistan or across the border in India or in any other country,” Mr Asif maintained.
This is the second time in less than a month Mr Asif has acknowledged links between Pakistan and terrorists operating from its soil “in the eighties” and pointed to the US’ role in fomenting those groups. Last month, three days after the Pahalgam attack, he was asked by British network Sky News about Pakistan’s ‘long history of… training and funding terrorist organisations?’ To this he replied, “We have been doing this dirty work for the US for the past three decades…”
India has repeatedly accused Pak of housing and protecting terror groups, and supporting cross-border attacks in J&K, like Pahalgam, Pulwama, and Uri, and also attacks in other parts of the country, including the assault on Parliament in 2001 and in Mumbai on 26/11.
Pakistan has denied these charges despite a growing volume of evidence to the contrary – this includes links to terror attacks worldwide, like the 2005 London bombings. And efforts to get the global community on its side have fallen flat too; after Pahalgam, for example, a closed-door consultation of the United Nations Security Council ignored Pak’s complaints and asked tough questions about Lashkar and other terror groups continuing to operate from its territory.
India underlined links between the Pak Army and known terrorists last week. In a special briefing after “Operation Sindoor,” the government pointed to ‘state funerals’ for some of the men killed in the Indian air strikes, men of whom it said there was proof of terrorist links. The government pointed out that senior Pak Army figures were present for the funerals.
