Islamabad: Claiming that the recent attack on tourists at India’s Pahalgam could be ‘staged’, Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, has warned of an ‘all-out-war’ when asked if Islamabad was concerned about a possible military retaliation by India, similar to the Balakot airstrikes, during an interview to the SkyNews.
The minister also admitted to state-sponsored terror activities but he pinned the blame on United States and the West.
When asked by journalist Yalda Hakim about Pakistan’s long history of ‘supporting’ terror outfits, Asif said, “We have been doing this dirty work for the US and the West, including Britain, for three decades.”
In intv on Sky News Pakistan Defence Minister Asif says Pakistan did the “dirty work” of funding terrorist groups (Kashmir/Afghanistan) for 3 decades, on behalf of US and the West pic.twitter.com/mM2epmzyzx
— Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) April 25, 2025
But he was quick to admit that it was a ‘mistake’ for which Pakistan suffered. “If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and later on, following the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan would have an unimpeachable track record,” the minister said.
Pakistan backed the US during the Cold War against the Soviet Union. It also supported its invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, terror attack by Al-Qaeda in New York.
Pakistan’s defence minister has told Sky News that a row over a mass shooting in Kashmir could lead to an “all-out war”
Speaking to @SkyYaldaHakim, Khawaja Asif suggested India had “staged” the shooting.
Full interview: https://t.co/jvth4a0Umv pic.twitter.com/jVhFmjN4ij
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 24, 2025
The minister also claimed that the US used terrorists as ‘proxies’ to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
Asif asserted that Lashkar-e-Taiba doesn’t exist any more. He claimed to have never heard of The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the terror outfit that claimed responsibility for the attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Lashkar is an old name. It does not exist… Our government has condemned it (Pahalgam attack) categorically. Pakistan has been the victim of terrorism for decades,” he further said.
“If there is an all-out attack or something like that (referring to the Balakot airstrikes), then obviously there will be an all-out war… The clash between two nuclear powers is always worrisome,” Asif said.
His reaction comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed that India would “identify, trace, and punish” every terrorist and their backers involved in the Pahalgam terror attack.