By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD : Pakistan’s military on Friday reaffirmed its longstanding ties with the United States, insisting there is no “either-or” in its relations with other countries including China, while accusing arch-rival India of sponsoring terrorism inside Pakistan from bases in Afghanistan.
Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry made the comments in an interview with a German news outlet on September 5, aired by Pakistani television channels.
The remarks come amid efforts to bolster Islamabad-Washington relations, with Chaudhry highlighting the US role in mediating a May ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbours after a four-day escalation.
“Pakistan and the US have a longstanding relationship. Over the period of time, we have been able to enhance and amplify our convergences and definitely manage the divergences,” he said.
“There are areas where a lot can be done, there are areas where a lot of engagement can be done,” he added, stressing that “Pakistan views its relationship with the US as very important.”
“We don’t think that these relationships have anything to do — or there is either-or with other countries,” Chaudhry said, adding after the interviewer mentioned China: “we, at the same time, have very constructive and strategic relationships with China and other countries.”
He pointed to “a lot of scope” for US-Pakistan collaboration on counterterrorism, welcoming Washington’s recent designation of the Majeed Brigade — the Balochistan Liberation Army’s suicide squad, proscribed by Pakistan since July 18, 2024 — as a terrorist outfit.
Chaudhry voiced concerns over weapons left by US and NATO forces in Afghanistan after their 2021 withdrawal, citing a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report that “more than $7.2 billion worth of US equipment has been left.”
He referenced US-made arms recovered from terrorists in the November 4, 2023, attack on Mianwali airbase. “We share all this data with the Americans… the amount of weapons left behind by the US is huge.”
“The non-state actors operating inside Afghanistan are not only a threat to Pakistan, but are a threat to the region and to the world at large,” he said.
Turning to India, Chaudhry said the May ceasefire had not resolved underlying conflicts.
“On May 10, actually the fire ceased — it’s the cease of fire that happened, [but] the conflict endures,” he said.
“Whether it is the Kashmir issue, whether it is state-sponsored terrorism of India, whether it is the rising extremism of Hindutva mentality, rationality that has gripped India –” he added.
“Pakistan believes that the issues need [a] resolution,” Chaudhry said, urging international intervention.
“Especially players like the USA, they must intervene… It’s very important that the international players, like US, they must intervene and resolve the issues which are the enduring reasons of the ongoing conflict [between Pakistan and India].”
He called on the international community to mediate so “the Indians are made to realise that this sort of irrationality, strategic arrogance, hubristic attitude that they’ve adopted, its not going to work.”
Chaudhry accused India of backing every terrorist incident in Pakistan.
“We have no doubt in our minds in Pakistan that each and every incident of terrorism that happens in Pakistan — behind that is Indian support and its abetment,” he said.
“The base of operation that the Indians use is Afghanistan, the whole of terrorism that is being done is executed by the Indians over there.”
“Indians have a playbook of using terror as a tool of state,” he said, naming Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as their “main tools.”
Rejecting claims of insurgency, he insisted: “There is no insurgency in Pakistan; the correct term is terrorist… Whether its in Balochistan or KP. Its pure terrorism.”
Chaudhry cited six dossiers from 2009 to 2023 provided to the international community on Indian involvement.
Highlighting Pakistan’s anti-terror efforts, he said law enforcement agencies had conducted 47,900 intelligence-based operations this year, killing 1,016 terrorists with 762 martyrdoms, including nearly 300 civilians.
“Just by the threat that is coming to Pakistan, any sane mind can understand this can not go on without external support,” he said.
“If you see the quantum of efforts and this terrorism if it was only homegrown and home supported it would’ve been over way back. Just by the amount of threat against Pakistan, any sane mind can understand that this cannot go on without external, sustained support and a base of operations.”
On why Western partners have not endorsed Pakistan’s stance, Chaudhry blamed India’s “much bigger information and disinformation machinery.”
“The effort that the West needs to take, is that they have to accept that India is a terror-sponsoring state, and at the same time, you [West] have those economic relations and that notion of ‘net security provider’. There are some other lenses [through which] the West needs to look towards India,” he said.
Dismissing allegations against Pakistan, he called them “part of the Indian disinformation campaign. This is a classic thing [where] you [India] yourself commit terrorism [and on the other hand] you start crying on top of your lungs — that the other side is committing terrorism.”
Chaudhry recalled Pakistan’s role as a frontline state against the Soviets”These Mujahideen who were instrumental in taking on the Soviets [USSR] at that time. Once the Soviets left, these [armed groups] were left in Afghanistan.
“There was a long period of civil war [in Afghanistan], which Pakistanis suffered and dealt with. Because of that culture, our society suffered,” he said, emphasising the human and economic costs.
On groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), he stressed: “The state of Pakistan at no time had a policy of sponsoring terrorism anywhere.
“We believe as a state that a terrorist has no religion. There is no Muslim, Hindu, Christian terrorist,” adding that Pakistan acts against all non-state actors proportionally and allows “no space for any private army, militia in the country.”
Chaudhry criticised India for externalising internal issues like minority oppression, especially Muslims.
“If you see IIOJK, there are one million strong Indian security forces’ personnel there. Any house can be searched at any time [….] and you blatantly say that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism. So you [India] have an internal that you are externalising.”
On Balochistan grievances and “missing persons,” he linked many to the BLA, citing a commission report: of 10,405 cases, 8,144 resolved and 2,261 under investigation; of 2,911 before the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, 2,459 resolved and 452 left, with more in Sindh and Punjab.
“Before talking about the issue, it is important to see how many Baloch are we talking about,” he said, claiming only a fraction of Balochistan’s population lives there.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
