MEA sources have today confirmed that India will continue its fight against terrorism even though Pakistan is attempting to create the narrative of “India trying to escalate” tensions, as this is a fight against terrorism and not an India-Pakistan conflict.
On Masood Azhar: “It is interesting that Pakistan has not denied Azhar is the JeM chief”
MEA sources said that 2 Pakistan ministers have given two interviews, one to CNN and the other to BBC, in both, some noteworthy points have emerged. One is that they have accepted that Masood Azhar is in Pakistan and that someone in the position of authority is in touch with him. This proves that Pakistan authorities are not only aware of Masood Azhar’s whereabouts but are also regularly in touch with him. There were even suggestions that he has ‘retired’ and is a preacher/religious teacher. The source said that in this interview it is important to note that there was no denial that Masood is JEM chief and that Pakistan’s rhetoric on how it is acting on terror is old wine in a new bottle.
The MEA source said, “stern action will be taken and firm decisions will be made by this Govt”. This was not only said in reference to Masood Azhar but also the fact that Pakistan has not taken any demonstrable action against terror emanating from its soil.
On Masood Azhar’s reported illness: ‘We take this news with a pinch of salt”
The MEA source said that India takes such reports with a pinch of salt as earlier too we had seen similar reports on Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden as well. Our effort is to bring Masood Azhar to book.
Diplomatic efforts by India to isolate Pakistan: Getting Masood Azhar designated by UNSC as a global terrorist, and FATF monitoring
The MEA source said that Pakistan is being isolated globally. It was said that the action on the JEM training camp in Balakot is over and that through these strikes deep inside Pakistan territory, India has demonstrated the capacity and will to act against terrorism. The efforts to the international community are that the world has heard the conjectures by Pakistan before and it is now time we expect to see ‘naya action’ on the ground if this is ‘Naya Pakistan’ and ‘nayi soch’.
The source said that though Pakistan has asserted several times that they are acting against JuD, they are only on the watchlist, not on the banned list hence at the moment, the objective of Pakistan seems to be to pretend like they are taking steps. The source said that India’s focus is now to reach out to members of the security council to explain why the UN security council should Masood Azhar in the list of global terrorists.
The source also said that the focus is on documenting what steps Pakistan is taking and sharing the relevant findings with the members of FATF.
On OIC: “Pakistan stands isolated in its own backyard”
The MEA source said that invitation to India by UAE for OIC was truly a historic one as India was invited to address inaugural plenary after 50 years. Pakistan tried best to scuttle this invite to India till last minute but the UAE backed by Saudi remained steadfast that invite remains and will not be withdrawn. UAE leadership reiterated they remained committed to their invite to India for OIC. Every Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member country attended the plenary (where EAM Sushma Swaraj was the guest of honour) except Pakistan, so Pakistan stands isolated in what it calls its own backyard.
On the lies of Pakistan: “Pakistan trying to create fear psychosis, footage of submarine old, all Sukhois accounted for”
On the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan, the MEA source said that India was able to build enough pressure for Pakistan to release him. In fact, India had clarified loud and clear and that Abhinandan was not a bargaining chip and that was non-negotiable.
The source said that all Sukhoi’s that India has have been accounted for and Pakistan saying that it shot one of them down is an utter lie. He said that Pakistan is deluded and hence it is creating a fear-psychosis that India might do something. If indeed they claim to have shot down our Sukhoi, they should show the wreckage.
On the Submarine footage that has been doing the rounds where Pakistan has claimed that India has mobilised its navy, the source said that the footage was an old one and the only objective of Pakistan was to create fear.
??Navy releases footage to local media claiming it has ‘detected’ @IndianNavy submarine INS Kalvari. No word from ??navy yet, but if video/coordinates are authentic, then Indian Navy likely *wants* Pak to know that ??attack submarine/s are lurking 200 km from Karachi. pic.twitter.com/JKHGYhF22N
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) March 5, 2019
The source also confirmed that Pakistan has refused to take its own media to the Balakot area where India conducted the airstrikes. The government of Pakistan is extremely concerned that if media begins to report the facts, its own ppl will ask questions like where PAF was when India struck? Where is the second plane and body of Sukhoi) 3 what is proof you are not escalating war?
The source also said that Pakistan media should ask its own government where was the missile that India found parked if not an F16?
He said that there is a solid support to India from the international community. Any statement which Pakistan has issued regarding their conversation with any other country and the statement issued by that country about their conversation with Pakistan when analysed will reveal who is lying.
India stands firm: “We will reject any mediation, this is a war on terrorism, not India-Pakistan conflict”
Interestingly, India has clarified that we are not looking for mediation and that we have not asked anyone to mediate. Pakistan is reaching out to all countries to mediate, and no one is paying any heed to Pakistan. In fact, the source also confirmed that India is looking at this as a war on terror and not an India-Pakistan conflict. They also said that all attempts to mediate will be rejected.
Post the Pulwama terror attack, India started its relentless pursuit of neutralising the threat of terrorism being used as a policy tool by Pakistan. Soon after the terrorist attack, India conducted airstrikes deep inside Pakistan in the Balakot region, neutralising Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps. Since then, Pakistan has been indulging in fierce psy-ops by spreading fake news and even hailing PM Imran ‘Taliban’ Khan as a peace dove when he was only following the Geneva Convention by releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan.
