Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's X account blocked in India after his ‘open confession’ on terrorism

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's X account was “withheld” in India on Tuesday after the minister issued a series of controversial comments in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

In a recent interview, Khawaja Asif reportedly admitted that Pakistan as a country has been ‘supporting, backing and funding’ terrorism for three decades. Asif said that it was a mistake that the country was suffering from.

“Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, and West, including Britain,” Asif told British news channel Sky News when asked about Pakistan's long history of backing, funding and supporting terrorist organisations.

Asif's remarks came amid escalating tensions and India's downgraded diplomatic relations with Pakistan after the worst-ever terror attack on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that killed 26, mostly tourists, earlier this week.

Pakistan's ‘open confession’

India said that the open confession of Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, admitting to his country’s history of supporting and funding terrorist organisations, exposes Pakistan as a "rogue state" fuelling global terrorism and destabilising the region.

"The whole world has heard the Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting and confessing Pakistan's history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations in a recent television interview,” India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Yojna Patel, said.

“This open confession surprises no one and exposes Pakistan as a rogue state fuelling global terrorism and destabilising the region. The world can no longer turn a blind eye. I have nothing further to add,” she was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.

Patel was delivering a strong Right of Reply at the hybrid launch event for the ‘Victims of Terrorism Association Network’ (VoTAN) of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism at the United Nations on Monday when Pakistan’s delegate made a reference to the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, Pakistan's defence minister had told Sky News that a row over a mass shooting in Kashmir could lead to an "all-out war". According to Pakistan-based ARY news, he later issued a statement clarifying, "I did not say war would break out in two to three days, but I did say that the situation is critical and the threat of war is real."