No wonder ....... United States' State sponsors of Terrorism designation list describes Pakistan as a terrorist safe haven !!

"La Ilaha Illallah": Reportedly one educationist survived the Pahalgam attack just because recite Islamic kalma.

Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir’s statement last week that Kashmir is Islamabad’s “jugular vein” is now being viewed in New Delhi as a “preemptive threat”.

India has underlined/pointed out at the  “cross-border linkages" vis-a-vis Pakistani angle to the deadly terrorist attack at Pahalgam.

Intelligence inputs reveal at least 40 terror launch pads active in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) near the Line of Control. 

Over 70 terrorists are active in the Kashmir valley, while 60-65 are in Jammu, Rajouri, and Poonch. 

About 115 of these are Pakistani terrorists.  

Notably, responding to questions on Pak Army chief's remarks, MEA’s  spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, had said: “How can anything foreign be in a jugular vein? 

This is a Union Territory of India. Its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country.”

Things came up for detailed deliberations and analyses at the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting on Wednesday.

PM Narendra Modi chaired the meeting and it was attended among others by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. 

Tensions rise between nuclear-armed neighbours who have fought three wars and Delhi vows to respond

Of course gauging that the Modi Govt will go aggressive, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives in an attack in Anantnag district of...Jammu and Kashmir. We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery.”  

“We have absolutely nothing to do with it. We reject terrorism in all its forms and everywhere,” Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif told a Pakistani TV channel.  

Notably, a fact Pakistan will find it difficult to argue or defend. The attack comes a week after Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir’s statement that Kashmir is Islamabad’s “jugular vein”. 

The remark had already drawn a sharp response from India.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit, is said to have claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack. 

The statements of victims and eyewitnesses indicate the role of at least four terrorists, including two believed to be “foreign nationals”, in the attack.  

Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism refers to the involvement of Pakistan in terrorism through the backing of various designated terrorist organizations. 

Pakistan has been frequently accused by various countries, including its neighbours Afghanistan, Iran, and India, as well as by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France of involvement in a variety of terrorist activities. 

Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border have been described as an effective safe haven for terrorists by Western media and the United States Secretary of Defense, while India has accused Pakistan of perpetuating the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir by providing financial support and armaments to militant groups, as well as by sending state-trained terrorists across the Line of Control and de facto India–Pakistan border to launch attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir and India proper, respectively.  

       An Afghan protesting against Pakistan's terrorism in front of the White House: File snap 

The United States' State Sponsors of Terrorism designation list describes Pakistan as a terrorist safe haven where individual terrorists and terrorist groups are able to organize, plan, raise funds, communicate, recruit, train, transit, and operate.

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda and mastermind behind the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs during Operation Neptune Spear at his compound near the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

“This is a very pivotal moment for the region. We have two nuclear-armed neighbours staring at each other,” said the US foreign policy author and South Asia expert Michael Kugelman. “All bets could be off.”

Among its first retaliatory moves, India announced the expulsion of the Pakistan high commission’s defence, navy and air advisers; the closure of a critical border trading point; and – for the first time – the suspension of the crucial Indus waters treaty.

The treaty governs the shared waters of one of the world’s biggest river systems that affects millions of lives in both countries, and India has never previously put the deal “in abeyance” – even in times of open conflict between the two neighbours.

But if the terrorists hoped the assault would win support from Kashmiris or revive separatist sentiment, they miscalculated: more than a dozen Kashmiri groups staged a complete shutdown of stores and businesses to mourn the victims.

Local people held protest marches chanting: “Tourists are our lives.”

Ends