TIO
A Pakistani minister on Thursday admitted its role in the Pulwama terror attack, bragging on the floor of parliament that his country had entered India and beaten it on its own soil. At least 40 security personnel were killed in Pulwama on 14 February last year when a vehicle-borne suicide attacker hit their convoy. The attacker was a member of the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
“Hum ne Hindustan ko Ghuss ke Mara Hai (We have entered and attacked India),” said Fawad Chaudhry, the science of technology minister in the Imran Khan cabinet, amid clapping from the ruling party MPs. “The victory in Pulwama is a victory for the people of Pakistan under the leadership of Imran Khan,” he added.
The minister said that the credit for Pulwama goes to all: “We are all stakeholders in it.” Chaudhry said it is a matter of pride “the way we entered India and beat them at Pulwama.” The way our Shaheens (Air Force) and our Sipahis (soldiers) and our sons beat them is a cause of embarrassment for the Indian political leadership and the Indian media, he said.
Chaudhry was replying to comments made a day earlier by former speaker and MP from the PML-N party, Ayaz Sadiq, on the floor of the house. Sadiq had alleged that the Pakistani leadership had panicked after the Pulwama attack and the subsequent shooting down of an Indian air force place.
Sadiq had said that Imran Khan had taken the decision to return the Indian pilot even before a meeting with the country’s political leadership. He had alleged that the Imran Khan government was so panicked that “the legs of the foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi kept on shaking from fear.”
Chaudhry replied on Thursday that Sadiq “had lied with confidence.” He lamented that Sadiq has gone against the interests of the state of Pakistan by issuing false and shameful statements. “Criticise the government but don’t criticise the state,” he told Sadiq. The Pakistan minister said that in his capacity as speaker, Ayaz Sadiq has been involved in the internal deliberations that took place. “But he should have some shame on how he has lied,” he added.
