Pakistani minister on Thursday admitted the Imran Khan government’s role in the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.
While addressing the Pakistan National Assembly, Imran Khan’s cabinet minister Fawad Chaudhry credited the Pak PM and his party PTI for the ‘success in Pulwama’ and hailed it as a great achievement. “Humne India ko ghus ke mara [We have hit India in its own territory],” the minister told the parliament.
Fawad Chaudhry’s statement in the National Assembly was in reaction to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq’s statement that legs were shaking in a top leaders’ meeting wherein, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi he pleaded others to release IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman.
Fawad Chaudhry termed Sardar Ayaz Sadiq’s statement false and said, “The victory we achieved in Pulwama is the victory of this nation under the leadership of Imran Khan. You are also a part of this victory.”
Sadiq, who was the Speaker of the National Assembly during the PML-N government, had said that Foreign Minister Qureshi, in an important meeting, pleaded that let Abhinandan Varthaman go back because India is attacking Pakistan.
The 37-year-old IAF pilot was captured by the Pakistani Army on February 27 after his MiG-21 Bison jet was shot down in a dogfight with Pakistani jets during aerial combat.
In the early hours of February 26, 2019, the IAF jets bombed the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camps in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan and avenged the Pulwama terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.
Before his jet was hit, Abhinandan Varthaman downed an F-16 fighter of Pakistan. He was released on the night of March 1 by Pakistan.
In a speech in the National Assembly, Sadiq said that Prime Minister Imran Khan skipped the high-level meeting, which was attended by top leadership, including Army chief Gen Bajwa and Foreign Minister Qureshi.
“Legs were shaking and forehead perspiring, and the foreign minister (Qureshi) told us, ‘For God’s sake, let him (Varthaman) go back now because India is attacking Pakistan at 9 PM in the night'”, Sadiq said, recalling the meeting which was also attended by parliamentary leaders, including those from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-N, and added that “India was not planning to attack…They just wanted to kneel before India and send back Abhinandan.”
It was not very clear whether Sadiq was referring to Gen Bajwa or foreign minister Qureshi whose legs were shaking and forehead perspiring.
He also did not mention the date of the meeting but indicated that it was held before the release of Varthaman.
Pak claims busted
The Pakistan government has refuted its role in the Pulwama terror attack since day 1. Pak PM Imran Khan had refused to even admit the presence of terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which were used to carry out the attack, even as Pak-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed took responsibility for it.
Imran Khan’s justification was that although Jaish is based in Pakistan, it also has a presence in Kashmir, and thus the attack is an “indigenous thing” that happened in India.
“A Kashmiri boy was radicalized after the brutalities of the Indian security forces and he carried out the attack, but suddenly Pakistan came into the limelight,” said Imran Khan.
Fawad Choudhry, who has now called upon the Pakistani leaders to celebrate the Pulwama attack, had told that it was sad and unfortunate which should not have happened. two days after the attack – Fawad Choudhry had said, “We condemn all terror incidents anywhere in the world. It is a sad and unfortunate incident that should not have happened.”
“Pakistan will be more than happy to give any assistance. [inaudible] with India is the key policies of our government, we want normalization of the relationship,” the Pak minister had said.
