Lahore: Even as India is convinced who is to blame for the gruesome Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan has refused to take the blame.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan is ready for a neutral investigation, and Defence minister Khawaja Asif echoed his views in what was a complete turnaround from his earlier comment.
In an interview with Russian government-run news agency RIA Novosti, Asif expressed his desire for Russia, China and other Western countries to join the probe into the Pahalgam attack to determine “whether India was telling the truth”.
“I think Russia or China or even Western countries can play a very, very positive role in this crisis and they can even set up an investigation team that should be assigned this job to investigate whether India or Modi is lying or he is telling the truth. Let an international team find out,” Asif said.
He reiterated Pakistan’s demand that India has to provide evidence to prove that his country was involved in the brutal massacre in which 26 innocent civilians were shot dead in front of their family members at Baisaran valley on April 22.
“Let’s find out who is the culprit and the perpetrator of this incident in India, in Kashmir, talk or empty statements has no effect. There must be some evidence that Pakistan is involved or that these people were supported by Pakistan. These are just statements, empty statements and nothing more,” claimed Pakistan’s Defence minister.
In an earlier interview with Sky News, Asif had admitted Pakistan’s history of supporting terrorist organisations as “dirty work” for the West.
Asif was asked by the Sky News presenter Yalda Hakim, “You do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations?”
The defence minister replied: “Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain.”
