New Delhi:
India’s Excessive Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, held up what he described as simple proof of Pakistan’s complicity in sponsoring terrorism each inside its personal soil and throughout the border in India. Chatting with Sky Information amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Mr Doraiswami introduced a poster-sized picture exhibiting prime Pakistani navy brass alongside Hafiz Abdur Rauf, a US-sanctioned terrorist and brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, attending the funeral of terrorists killed by India below Operation Sindoor.
Behind Rauf within the picture have been uniformed Pakistani navy officers. Pakistani flags have been draped over the coffins of terrorists.
“Let me present you this {photograph} from yesterday,” the Excessive Commissioner mentioned, holding up the photograph. “I consider it’s in your viewers. This individual here’s a sanctioned terrorist below the American sanctions regime. His title is Hafiz Abdur Rauf. He is a brother of the founding father of the terrorist group that you just’re mentioning. Look who’s behind him. Pakistani navy. Have a look at the coffins there. They’ve the Pakistani nationwide flag. If you are going to be giving terrorists state funerals, what does that make of your system? “
The {photograph}, shared by India at a press briefing in New Delhi, was introduced as visible proof of what India has for many years maintained that Pakistan, and specifically its navy institution, not solely harbours however formally helps terrorists.
The interview adopted India’s coordinated collection of airstrikes on 9 terrorist infrastructure websites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). These strikes got here in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror assault by which 26 folks have been killed on April 22.
One of many main targets was the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) headquarters in Bahawalpur, a metropolis in Pakistan’s Punjab province lengthy believed by Indian intelligence to be a serious hub of terrorist exercise. The BJP launched a social media graphic exhibiting Abdul Rauf Azhar, Masood Azhar’s brother, with the phrase “eradicated” stamped throughout his picture.
Abdul Rauf Azhar was a key determine in a number of terror incidents, together with the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airways flight IC-814, the 2001 Indian Parliament assault, and the 2016 Pathankot airbase assault. In the course of the Kandahar hijacking of IC-814, India was compelled to launch three jailed terrorists, together with Masood Azhar himself, in alternate for 190 civilian hostages.
The Excessive Commissioner talked about previous instances to argue that Pakistan’s requires a global investigation weren’t credible. He cited the 2016 Pathankot assault, throughout which India permitted Pakistani investigators to entry a delicate Indian Air Power base. The cooperation, Mr Doraiswami mentioned, was not reciprocated. He additionally referenced the 2008 Mumbai assaults, the place Pakistani authorities have been handed in depth proof that was ignored or misused to obfuscate hyperlinks between the terrorists and Pakistan’s deep state.