India hits back at Pakistan over terror charges; recalls Imran Khan's stunning admission

The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday hit back at Pakistan over it calling India sponsor of "terrorist organisations in Afghanistan", recalling Prime Minister Imran Khan's own admission last year that Pakistan still hosts 30,000 to 40,000 terrorists in its neighbourhood. 

In a statement, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan would do well to recall that their Prime Minister admitted last year that Pakistan still hosts 30,000 to 40,000 terrorists. Pakistan’s leadership is also on record acknowledging that in the past terrorists had used the country's soil to carry out terror attacks on other countries."

On Thursday, Pakistan's Foreign Office had contended the MEA had misrepresented an explosive United Nations report on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism to slander the country. “Pakistan categorically rejects India’s malicious allegations, which are aimed at misleading the international community,” a statement said.

The Foreign Office claimed that India was trying to “create complications for the Afghan peace process”, and that Pakistan had highlighted what it was said was India’s “sponsorship of terrorist organisations in Afghanistan”.

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Pakistan should introspect

Reacting to this, Anurag Srivastava said that the UN report has only reiterated what the Imran Khan has already confessed and 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".

"The UN and the international community are well acquainted with the reality that Pakistan is the nerve center of terrorism. It houses one of the largest numbers of UN-designated terrorists and terrorist entities. Its fallacious attempts to point fingers at others cannot deflect attention from the facts on the ground," the MEA statement said.

Moreover, Pakistan’s attempts to create a divide in the traditional and friendly relations between the people of India and Afghanistan will not succeed, the MEA added, highlighting the Afghan people's knowledge of "who is sheltering, training, arming and financing terrorists and sponsoring violence against innocent Afghans".

READ | UN Report Claims 6,500 Pakistanis Among Foreign Terrorists In Afghanistan

UN report exposes Pak's nefarious role

Following a report submitted to the United Nations last month that says that there are 6,500 Pakistanis among other foreign terrorist fighters in Afghanistan, India had said it vindicates the country's long-standing position that Pakistan remains an epicentre of international terrorism. Those Pakistani terrorists are allied to groups like the Taliban, Al-Qaida, and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K).

A report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, which was submitted to the UN Security Council (UNSC), says among those groups posing a security threat, Afghan officials highlighted Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jaish-i-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba groups on which the Team has written in previous reports. 

TTP, JeM and LeT are all designated terror groups in India and the latter two have been involved in cross-border attacks on civilians as well as military targets.

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