Pakistan is in the grip of military-terror nexus: Ravi Shankar Prasad
Ravi Shankar Prasad led a nine-member delegation that travelled to France, Italy, Denmark, the UK, Belgium and Germany from May 25 to June 7
NEW DELHI: A delegation of lawmakers and former diplomats that visited six European countries to gather support for India’s efforts to fight terrorism, told the foreign interlocutors that Pakistan’s military did not reciprocate India’s initiatives and that the military-terror nexus was the main hurdle to peace, former minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Prasad, who led a nine-member delegation that travelled to France, Italy, Denmark, the UK, Belgium and Germany from May 25 to June 7, said the delegation spoke about the historical perspective of how the two nations were born on the same day after Partition but while Pakistan was “going around with a begging bowl”, India was the fourth largest economy.
“We fought four conventional wars, and we were never the aggressors… And treaties were signed but it is the (Pakistan) army that is responsible for tensions between the two countries,” he said.
The delegation was one of the seven that were sent to different countries as part of India’s diplomatic outreach after New Delhi carried out retaliatory strikes on May 7 across 9 terror camps in territory controlled by Pakistan for the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people.
“Pakistan is not only a state in denial, but it is in the grip of a deadly combination of military-terrorist nexus. Army generals have been in power for many years, from General Zia ul Haq to Asim Munir. And the generals use these terrorists as proxies to make themselves relevant. That is why there is no peace,” he said.
During their interactions abroad, he said the delegation put forth the efforts made by India to establish peaceful bilateral ties, and how these were rebuffed by the neighbouring country.
“No matter which government has been in power, they all have tried to have good relations. PM Narendra Modi invited Nawaz Sharief to his swearing-in ceremony (in 2014), he attended the wedding of his grandson (granddaughter), yet Uri and Pulwama attacks happened,” he said.
He was referring to the attack on an Indian army brigade headquarters in Uri, carried out in 2016 by Pakistan trained terrorists and the attack on soldiers in Pulwama in Kashmir in 2019.
Asked if the delegation was questioned about the evidence available with India against Pakistan, Prasad said, “We had enough evidence and our initial comments about the terror attacks would dispel their misconceptions. When they did ask for operation details, we told them that such information cannot be revealed.”
To highlight the misuse of international funds by Pakistan, the delegation saidthe last loan that India secured from the IMF was in 1991, but Pakistan continues to borrow and use the funds for weapons. “It has borrowed 25 times and uses it to buy weapons, and China supplies 80% of these,” Prasad said.
To a question on whether India’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict came up for discussion, Prasad said, “We were asked about Ukraine and we told them that we have very old relations with Russians. But the PM (Narendra Modi) was clear in telling President Putin that this is not the age of war… and this was televised… Our Prime Minister also said that coming from the land of Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi does not mean that we need to tolerate terrorism.”
