Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has said that if India has any ‘actionable evidence’ regarding the involvement of his country in the Pulwama attack, he will take action.
In a video message, Khan said, “I would like to make the Indian government an offer,” he said, asking Delhi to share actionable evidence with Islamabad and vowing that Pakistan would investigate it.
“If you have actionable evidence, share it with us. We will take action,” he assured Delhi. “Not because we are under pressure, but because it is our policy.”
Khan said he had wanted to respond to the attack right away because Delhi had accused Pakistan of having a hand in it, “but we had a very important visit from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, we had an investment conference happening that we had been preparing for for a long time,” he explained. “Therefore I decided not to respond then, because the attention would have been diverted away from the visit and onto this issue.”
“This is why I am responding, now that the crown prince has left. And this is for the Indian government,” he said.
“First of all, you accused Pakistan. [There was] no evidence. You never thought, ‘What would be in it for Pakistan?’,” he said. “Would a fool even do such a thing to sabotage his own conference? And even if he [the crown prince] wasn’t visiting, what benefit would Pakistan get from it?”
“Why would Pakistan at this stage, when it is moving towards stability ─ we have fought a war against terrorism for 15 years, 70,000 Pakistanis lost their lives, terrorism is receding, peace and stability are returning ─ what benefit would we get from it?” he asked.
The Indian Army on Tuesday said that three militants, i.e, the leadership of the outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad in the Valley had been ‘eliminated’ in an early operation that began early Monday morning and lasted 17 hours.
On 14 February, a Scorpio car armed with explosives rammed into a CRPF convoy in Lethpora area along the Srinagar-Jammu highway in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, killing 49 CRPF personnel. Following the news, militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility of the attack.
Soon after the attack, Navjot Singh Sidhu, a minister in Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress government in Punjab, asked whether an entire country (Pakistan) could be blamed for the acts of a few.
Sidhu, however, strongly condemned the Pulwama attack.
After the Pulwama attack, Kashmiris living in India have been facing xenophobia, hate, terminations and suspensions.
A mob threatened to set a Dehradun college on fire if the institute didn’t terminate a Kashmiri dean. Abid Kuchay, college Dean of the Alpine Institute has been terminated.
“The college asked for it. I agreed for the betterment of the college,” he said. Abid’s resignation has been asked for his role of getting Kashmir students admitted in the college.
Moreover, four Kashmiri students were suspended on Saturday by the National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Rajasthan for sharing a WhatsApp status in which they were allegedly celebrating the Pulwama attack which left 49 CRPF personnel dead.
The second-year students — Talveen Manzoor, Iqra, Zohra Nazir and Uzma Nazir — were suspended soon after they shared as a WhatsApp status allegedly celebrating the killings of the CRPF personnel in the attack
Earlier, Shridev Suman Subharti University in Dehradun suspended a Kashmiri student after his alleged WhatsApp chat regarding the Pulwama attack went viral.
Meanwhile, Aligarh Muslim University also suspended a Kashmiri student over a ‘highly objectionable tweet’.
Omar Saleem Peerzada, AMU PRO said: “We have come to know of the highly objectionable tweet. Taking immediate cognizance the student has been suspended by the university administration,” he said.
Moreover, 15-20 Kashmiri female students had locked themselves in a hostel room in Dehradun after a mob surrounded the campus area, demanding the management to ‘throw them out of their rooms’.
Shazia Hamid, one of the students, told Free Press Kashmir that she and other Kashmiri female students, fearing the mob, have locked themselves in a room.
Following Free Press Kashmir’s news story the women were provided safety by the Dehradun police who dispersed the crowd peacefully.
Earlier, former chief minister Omar Abdullah had appealed to the Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh to direct all state governments to take ‘special care of areas where Kashmiris as residing or studying.’
Following the reports of attacks on Kashmiris in various parts of India, Government of India on Saturday asked all the states to ensure safety and security of the students and people from Jammu and Kashmir.
