File Picture Courtesy : The Indian Express
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tacitly admitted in an interview that Pakistan played a role + in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. This marks a dramatic U- turn as Pakistan had all along denied any hand in the dastardly 2008 Mumbai attacks.
This candid admission by Sharif, 68, comes after he was ousted from power when the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding public office for life following his involvement in the Panama Papers case. In February, the apex court also disqualified Sharif as the head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Citing the military and judiciary establishment, Sharif further said: “You can’t run a country if you have two or three parallel governments. This has to stop. There can only be one government – the constitutional one.”
Speaking to Dawn, Sharif stated that terrorist organisations were thriving in Pakistan and “non-state actors” were responsible for the series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 which claimed over 160 lives.
Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed + and Masood Azhar’s terror outfits — Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad, — operating in the country with impunity, Sharif said: “Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai?”
The PML-N leader was questioning why the trial into the Mumbai attacks was stalled at a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.
“Why can’t we complete the trial? It’s absolutely unacceptable. This is exactly what we are struggling for. President Putin has said it. President Xi has said it,” he said.
