'Lashkar is extinct,' claims Pak Defence Minister but acknowledges working with them in 'past'

'Lashkar is extinct,' claims Pak Defence Minister but acknowledges working with them in 'past'

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Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif says 'Lashkar-e-Taiba doesn't exist' on their soil and to validate his claims, he adds, 'it's extinct.' South Asia, Pakistan

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif says 'Lashkar-e-Taiba doesn't exist' on their soil and to validate his claims, he adds, 'it's extinct.' This comes after The Resistance Front, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) claimed responsibility for the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack in India's Jammu and Kashmir that killed at least 26 tourists on April 22.

In an interview with UK-based news outlet Sky News, Asif was insistent about LeT's status as he blamed India for 'staging Pahalgam attack.'

To counter his claims, the journalist said 'the reason India is blaming Pakistan is because they believe your country's intelligence agencies fund and back these terrorist organisations'. She also validated it with the fact that the US' beliefs are also on the similar lines.

WATCH | Pahalgam terror attack LIVE: Pak Army starts firing at LoC, Rahul Gandhi reaches Srinagar

Ready to respond, Asif's wavering voice said, "They (India) never came up with any evidence for these incidents that took place in Kashmir. Just to blame Pakistan for something and create a situation for their advantage...that doesn't mean it's Pakistan."

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But he did confirm that the country had been associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 'past'. He added, "Lashkar-e-Taiba doesn't exist in Pakistan anymore; it is extinct."

Validating his claims, Asif went on to say, "My dear, if the parent organisation does not exist, how can the offshoot (The Resistance Front) take birth here?" While the defence minister was confidently shrugging off everything and calmly associating it with the country's past. In less than a minute later, he was seen admitting to training terrorists and doing this 'dirty work for the West'.

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Prashasti Satyanand Shetty covers a broad spectrum of subjects, ranging from geopolitics, global conflicts, and India's neighbourhood dynamics to the strategic operations of the In...Read More