New Delhi: Pakistan used to live in denial, and continues to do so vis-à-vis terrorism being bred on its land.
The latest instance came post India’s Operation Sindoor in the early hours of Wednesday, when Pakistan’s Information & Broadcasting minister Attaullah Tarar brazenly dismissed India’s claims of having struck 9 selected terrorist camps in Pakistan as well as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Asked by Sky News anchor Yalda Hakim about his reaction to India’s missile strikes in the early hours of May 7, the Pakistani minister simply denied the existence of terror camps in his country.
“Let me make it very clear.. there are no terrorist camps in Pakistan. Pakistan is a victim of terrorism. We are the frontline state against terrorism. India on the other hand, when we had the Jafar Express hijacking, India did not even condemn it,” Tarar said, referring to the Pakistani passenger train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar, with at least 380 passengers on board, being hijacked by the Balochistan Liberation Army on March 11, 2025.
The TV journalist interjected, and fact-checked the Pakistani minister. She pointed out that it was Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif who recently admitted on her earlier show that Pakistan has been funding, backing and using terrorist groups as proxies in the country and doing this “dirty work” for the United States for three decades.
So was the minister contradicting what ex-President Pervez Musharraf, former PM Benazir Bhutto, current Defence minister and even Bilawal Bhutto have said, the journalist asked.
Stumped by the question, Tarar avoided a direct answer and tried to divert the topic, taking the conversation back to what happened post the 9/11 attack in US.
Also Read: Operation Sindoor: ‘Response To Brutal Killing Of Our Innocent Brothers’, Says Amit Shah
“Post 9/11 Pakistan has been the frontline state in eliminating terrorism. I would like to invite you to Pakistan,” Tarar said.
When the TV anchor said she has been to Pakistan, and everyone knows that Osama Bin Laden was discovered in Pakistan’s Abbottabad, Tarar was again confronted with the Defence minister’s admission on backing terrorists.
The minister this time gave a weird explanation, trying to cover for the Defence minister. “I think what the Defence minister said was misinterpreted,” Tarar offered, referring to a “Soviet invasion back in the 80s which is part of history.”
Watch the video clip posted by the journalist on X:
“There are no terrorist camps in Pakistan” says Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tatar.
I spoke to him as India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations early Wednesday. India says it is targeting “terrorist infrastructure”. pic.twitter.com/3ZOEww5dkK
— Yalda Hakim (@SkyYaldaHakim) May 7, 2025
