Watch: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admits funding terror groups for decades
New Delhi: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has acknowledged that his country provided financial aid and nurtured terrorist organizations for the past three decades, primarily to serve the interests of the United States and Western countries.
The startling admission came during a heated interview with Sky News and has sparked outrage following the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that left 27 tourists dead. The attack was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be a proxy for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
“Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States and the West, including Britain, for three decades,” Asif said, adding that it was a mistake for which Pakistan is now facing the consequences. He attributed Pakistan’s involvement in terrorism to the Soviet-Afghan War and U.S. military actions following 9/11.
During the interview, Asif also made an unsubstantiated claim that Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose offshoot, the Resistance Front, claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack “does not exist in Pakistan.”
Asif’s remarks come at a time of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. In response to the Pahalgam attack, India has taken a series of strong countermeasures, including closing the Attari-Wagah border, suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, and ordering Pakistani nationals to leave the country within 48 hours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged strict punishment for those behind the attack and reaffirmed India’s commitment to eradicating terrorism.
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