Washington: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday claimed his country was needlessly blamed for the Pulwama attack in February, which he said was carried out by a local, disaffected Kashmiri.
The terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which took responsibility for the attack, also operated in India, said Khan.
Asked if Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed would stay in custody this time, Khan lightly said that while the country wants and needs an independent judiciary he is being asked to predict what it would do.
However, he added that it was in Pakistan’s interest to now get rid of all armed militias.
The Pakistan PM made the comments during his just-concluded three-day visit to the US.
‘Indigenous thing’
Addressing Washington-based think-tank US Institute of Peace, Imran Khan said the Pulwama attack was “clearly an indigenous thing”.
“It was a Kashmiri boy radicalised by the brutality of the security forces. He blew himself up. But because this group claimed responsibility, which was in India as well, Jaish-e-Mohammed is operating in India — but Pakistan suddenly came in the limelight,” said Khan.
The Pakistan PM incorrectly mentioned that the attack in Jammu and Kashmir was carried out last year. It took place on 14 February.
‘Will disarm militant groups’
Imran Khan has felt pressured during his US visit to take sustained and verifiable actions against terrorists operating from Pakistan soil.
Last week, JuD and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed was taken into custody in Pakistan — for the eighth time over the last decade. US President Donald Trump took a note of the action.
During his address at the US Institute of Peace, Khan said his government had already decided — before Pulwama — that “we will disarm all militant groups in Pakistan”.
“It is in Pakistan’s interest, it’s in our interest,” he continued. “The country has had enough of militant groups.”
The prime minister said the security forces were with him on this. “It’s the Army that’s helping us disarm all militant groups.”
Earlier on Monday, the Pakistan PM’s visit to US created a row in India after Trump made some controversial remarks at a joint press conference with Imran Khan.
Trump said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approached a couple of weeks ago to seek mediation on the Kashmir issue. The Modi government categorically denied the claims.
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