Ishaq Dar, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, has called the Pahalgam terrorists as “freedom fighters”.
A group of terrorists on Tuesday killed 26 people in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. The police have identified at least two of those terrorists to be from Pakistan. They have been named as Hashim Musa alias Sulaiman and Ali Bhai alias Talha Bhai. They are believed to be from Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In an interaction with the media, Dar on Thursday also said that India’s action regarding the Indus Water Treaty is an “act of war”.
India on Wednesday announced, among a slew of other decisions, that the Indus treaty has been put in abeyance till further notice. The treaty governs the sharing the waters of the Indus river system between India and Pakistan.
Dar said, “Two hundred and forty million people in Pakistan need water… you cannot stop it. It is tantamount to an act of war. Any suspension or encroachment won’t be accepted”.
In response, Pakistan announced the suspension of all bilateral agreements with India, including the Simla Agreement of 1972 that ended the War of 1971 and laid the foundation of India-Pakistan bilateral relationship.
Dar further said, “If Pakistan is attacked directly, a tit-for-tat reply will be given,” he said.
Separately, the National Security Committee (NSC), chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, also called the Indian action regarding the Simla Agreement an act of war.
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View All“Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparians will be considered as an act of war,” said a statement after the NSC meeting.
Continuing the rhetoric, Pakistan Defence Ministter Khawaja Muhammad Asif said: “We will make them pay through their noses. If our citizens are harmed by India, Indian citizens will not remain safe either. It will be tit-for-tat.”
The Indian government has formally blamed Pakistan for the Pahalgam terrorist attack. The LeT, which is believed, to be behind the attack, is based in Pakistan and is supported by Pakistan. It has conducted numerous attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere in India. In the FIR registered in connection with the attack, the police said that terrorists carried out the attack “acting on the instructions of their handlers across the border”.