‘Surprises no one’: India says Pak Defence Minister’s comments has exposed country as ‘rogue nation’

India has said that the open confession of Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, although surprising no one, has exposed the country as a “rogue nation”. This comes after Asif told a news channel that they have been doing US’ dirty work for about three decades.

India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Yojna Patel delivered a scathing response after Pakistan’s delegate made a mention of the Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir at the UN. Patel delivered a Right of Reply at the hybrid launch event for the ‘Victims of Terrorism Association Network’ (VoTAN) of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism. 

"It is unfortunate that one particular delegation has chosen to misuse and undermine this forum to indulge in propaganda and make baseless allegations against India. The whole world has heard the Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting and confessing Pakistan's history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations in a recent television interview,” said Patel. She added that the “open confession surprises no one and exposes Pakistan as a rogue state fueling global terrorism and destabilising the region”. “The world can no longer turn a blind eye. I have nothing further to add,” she said. 

In a recent interview to Sky News, Asif said, “Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain.” 

He said no other country had suffered as much as Pakistan due to terrorism. Asif accused India of following a pattern of blaming Islamabad for any incidents on its soil. He, in the same interview, also said that terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba does not exist, and also denied having any knowledge of its offshoot, The Resistance Front, which claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack. Terrorists opened fire on civilians, most of whom were holidayers, claiming 26 lives.