Islamabad, Apr 26: Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif has admitted the country’s history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations as “dirty work” for the West, a mistake for which he said Pakistan had suffered.In an interview with Sky News aired overnight, news presenter Yalda Hakim questioned Asif on Pakistan’s response and stance on terrorism in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people earlier this week.
“You do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations,” asked Hakim.
“Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain,” replied Asif.
That was a mistake, and we suffered from that, and that is why you are saying this to me. If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and later on the war after 9/11, Pakistan’s track record… was an unimpeachable track record,” he said.
“It is very convenient for… the big powers to blame Pakistan for whatever is happening in this region. When we were fighting the war on their side way back in the 80s against the Soviet Union, all these terrorists of today, they were wining and dining in Washington.
“And then came the 9/11 attacks. Again, the same situation was repeated. I think our governments then made a mistake,” he said, adding that Pakistan was “used as proxies” at the time.
The minister was pushed on the finger of blame being pointed at Pakistan for Tuesday’s terror attack in Pahalgam and that The Resistance Front, which has admitted responsibility for the strike, being an off-shoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Lashkar-e-Taiba doesn’t exist in Pakistan anymore. It is extinct. It is extinct… if the parent organisation does not exist, how can the offshoot take birth here,” said Asif.
Asked if Pakistan fears an escalation as a result of the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the minister said the country is prepared to respond “in kind”. “We will measure our response to whatever is initiated by India, according to that. It would be a measured response, if there is an all-out attack or something like that, then obviously there will be an all-out war,” he said in the virtual interview.
Terrorists opened fire in Pahalgam on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack.