Pakistan behind terrorist attack in J&K’s Pulwama last year: Pakistani minister

Pakistan was behind the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama region last year in which 40 Indian paramilitary personnel troopers were killed, a Pakistani minister told the country's legislature, in what is can be seen as an apparent admission of Islamabad’s role in sponsoring cross-border terrorism.

"Humne Hindustan ko ghus ke maara (We hit India in their home). Our success in Pulwama, is a success of the people under the leadership of Imran Khan. You and we are all part of that success," minister Fawad Chaudhury was quoted as saying by media reports in Pakistan’s national assembly. In a video clip posted on Twitter -- whose veracity could not be immediately be verified by Mint -- Chaudhury appeared to be saying that "the success we got in Pulwama is a success of this country under (prime minister) Imran Khan."

With the statement sparking an uproar in the Pakistan Assembly, Chaudhury was seen changing tack, rephrasing his statement as: "Pulwama ke waqiyeh ke baad, jab humne India ko ghus ke maara (When we hit India in their home after the incident at Pulwama)."

The comments confirming Pakistan’s support to terrorism against India come days after the Paris based global money laundering watch dog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept Pakistan on its “grey list” of countries for not doing enough to curb money flows to terrorist groups based there. Pakistan has been on the “grey list” of closely monitored jurisdictions since June 2018. While its chances of being downgraded to the “black list” seem slim – given that it has the support of China, Turkey and Malaysia, its chances of getting out of the “grey list” seem tough given that so far it has only fulfilled 21 of 27 requirements set by the FATF. At the FATF’s virtual meeting last week, Turkey was the only country that supported its rehabilitation into the list of countries not monitored for any suspicious activities.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava dismissed Pakistan’s objections to a joint statement issued after the India-US 2+2 talks on Tuesday. The joint statement had reiterated their call for Pakistan “to take irreversible action to ensure its territory is not used for terror attacks and to speedily prosecute the perpetrators and planners of the attacks in Mumbai, Uri and Pathankot.”

“We take strong exception to Pakistan-related assertions made in the selective and one-sided Joint Statement, devoid of meeting the objectivity criteria,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement on Wednesday.

In his response, Srivastava said, “the whole world knows the truth about Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorism. No amount of denial can hide this truth.”

Many a time, Pakistani leaders themselves had admitted to harbouring terrorists and using terrorism as an instrument against India, Srivastava said adding:“The country that provides shelter to the maximum no of UN proscribed terrorists should not even attempt to play victim.”