Nirmala calls Sharif’s Pak militancy remark serious
new delhi — Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed as a “serious disclosure” Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif publicly acknowledging that militant organisations were active in his country and said it proved India’s position that the handlers of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack were in Pakistan.
For the first time, Sharif also questioned Pakistan’s policy to allow the “non-state actors” to cross the border and “kill” people in Mumbai, according to a media report. “Well, it is very serious disclosure. India’s position has been that the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from Pakistan. We strongly believe that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan,” Sitharaman told a press conference here, in response to a query.
“It (Sharif’s remarks) only proves that India’s stand has been right all the way,” she said.
Sharif, who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by his country’s Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, said Pakistan has isolated itself.
“We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan’s narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it,” Sharif had told Dawn. Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar’s militant organisations — Jamaat-udDawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad, — operating in the country with impunity, Sharif said, “Militant organisations are active in Pakistan.” — PTI