Tel Aviv, May 19 (IANS) Highlighting that Pakistan has for decades pursued cross-border terrorism into India with impunity, India’s Ambassador to Israel J P Singh has said that it is high time that Islamabad hands over chiefs of Pakistan-based global Islamist terror organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to India.
In an interview with Israel’s i24NEWS, Singh highlighted that these Pakistani outfits have been involved in innumerable terror attacks on India, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Uri base camp and Pathankot air base attacks in 2016, 2019 Pulwama attack, and now the heinous April 22 Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir, last month.
“The root cause is these two groups — Jaish-e-Muhammad and its leader Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba and its leader Hafiz Saeed. They (Pakistan) need to do a very simple thing – when the preamble includes goodwill and friendship, they just need to hand over these terrorists to us,” Singh said during the interview.
“When the US can extradite Tahawwur Rana (26/11 Mumbai terror attacks accused), why can’t Pakistan hand over Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi (India’s most wanted and UN-designated terrorist)?” he questioned.
The seasoned Indian diplomat also asserted that Operation Sindoor, launched by the Indian Armed Forces on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, is paused and not over, adding that the fight against terrorism will continue.
“The IWT or the Indus Waters Treaty has been put in abeyance. But, the other IWT – that is, India’s war against terrorism, will continue,” said Singh.
In response to a question on the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) by India following the Pahalgam terror attack, Singh said that the treaty was signed in the spirit of goodwill and friendship.
“Over the past so many years, what we have seen — we were allowing water to flow and what was Pakistan doing? They were allowing terror to come from Pakistan to the Indian side. There was a lot of frustration among the people that this cannot go on like this. After this attack, our Prime Minister said that blood and water cannot flow together. That was the reason we decided to put IWT in abeyance,” said Ambassador Singh.
Speaking about Operation Sindoor, Singh stated that the Indian forces destroyed several terror launching pads and killed over 100 terrorists.
He emphasised that it was only after the Indian retaliation that Pakistan panicked and reached out to India, and consequently, both sides entered into a ceasefire on May 10.
“We have set a new normal and the new normal is that we will follow an offensive strategy. Wherever terrorists are, we have to kill those terrorists and we have to destroy their terrorist infrastructure… As of now, the ceasefire is intact,” he said.
–IANS
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