Pak is 'nerve centre' of terrorism, should stop supporting it: India
Jun 05, 2020
New Delhi [India], June 5 : Calling Pakistan a "nerve centre" of terrorism, India on Friday asked Islamabad to introspect and put end to any kind of support for terrorism emanating from territories under its control.
In a rebuttal to Pakistan's Foreign Office who had claimed that Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has misrepresented the Eleventh Report of the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team (MT), the MEA said that Pakistan's leadership is on record acknowledging that in the past terrorists used the country's soil to carry out terror attacks on other countries.
The UN report, issued last month, said there are some 6,500 Pakistani nationals among foreign terrorists operating in Afghanistan and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) play a key role in bringing foreign fighters into the war-torn country.
"Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs would do well to recall that their Prime Minister admitted last year that Pakistan hosts 30,000-40,000 terrorists. Pakistan's leadership is on record acknowledging that in past terrorists used the country's soil to carry out terror attacks on other countries," MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in response to media queries on a press release dated June 4 by Pakistan's Foreign Office.
While speaking in US Institute of Peace in Washington last year, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made a startling revelation that his country still has about 30,000 to 40,000 terrorists "who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir".
"Instead of casting aspersions on the report, Pakistan should introspect and put an end to any kind of support for terrorism emanating from territories under its control. UN and the international community is well acquainted with the reality that Pakistan is the nerve centre of terrorism," Srivastava further said.
After the release of the report, Srivastava on Tuesday had said that the UN report about the presence of 6,500 Pakistani terrorists operating in Afghanistan has vindicated its long-standing position that Pakistan remained the epicentre of international terrorism, saying that Al-Qaeda and its affiliates continue to enjoy safe havens and operate with impunity from Islamabad with state support.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Pakistan's Foreign Office had contended that the MEA had misrepresented the UN report to "slander" Pakistan, Geo News reported.
"Pakistan categorically rejects India's malicious allegations, which are aimed at misleading the international community," it claimed.
