Pakistan does not shelter active terrorists or terrorist outfits, and those living in its territory "do not indulge in terror activities, either in Pak or across the order in India', that country's Defence Minister Khwaja Asif told British broadcaster BBC in an interview earlier this month.
The interview took place hours after India-Pak military tension spiked against the backdrop of the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people, mostly civilians, were killed was claimed by a proxy of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned terrorist group India has said operates from Pakistan soil and with support from the deep state.
Azadeh Moshiri the BBC's Pak correspondent had asked Mr Asif if there were terrorists leaders or terror groups active in Pakistan. The Pak Defence Minister responded with an emphatic "no".
Mr Asif also responded to questions about the United States' belief that Pakistan continues to allow terror groups - like the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which was behind the 2019 Pulwama and 2016 Uri attacks, in which 59 soldiers were killed - to raise funds through 'legitimate businesses'.
"These (terrorism and terrorists) are things from our past..." Mr Asif began, pointing to the US' role in arming certain Afghanistan groups in the 1980s, during the Afghan-Soviet war.
He argued that over the decades the US' hand in creating and arming 'mujahideen' groups, which were later reborn as terrorist outfits, was forgotten and Pak was left holding the bag.
Among the outfits the US (and Pakistan too) had supported then included the Haqqani network, which had, and still has links with the Taliban and the Jaish and Lashkar groups.
"The terrorists, which it is claimed that they are in Pakistan or their terrorist outfits are in Pakistan, they were allies of the US efforts in Afghanistan in the 80s. This thing keeps haunting us... that all these people who were actually our allies, or we were their allies... they're all 'dry-cleaned' now, but we are still 'dirty'. They still blame us for people who were their allies."
"Who decides that your or me are terrorists or we are not terrorists?"
"These (terrorist) leaders are no more... they are living, not dead, but do not indulge in terror activities, either in Pakistan or across the border in India or in any other country."
This is the second in less than a month Mr Asif has acknowledged links between Pakistan and terrorists operating from its soil, and pointed to the US' role in fomenting those groups.
Last month, three days after the Pahalgam attack, he was asked by British network Sky News about Pakistan's 'long history of... training and funding terrorist organisations?'
To this he replied, "We have been doing this dirty work for the US for the past three decades..."
READ | 'Doing Dirty Work For US, West...': Pak Minister Admits To Funding Terrorism
India has repeatedly accused Pak of housing and protecting terror groups, and supporting cross-border attacks in J&K, like Pahalgam, Pulwama, and Uri, and also attacks in other parts of the country, including the assault on Parliament in 2001 and in Mumbai on 26/11.
40 CRPF personnel were killed in the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack.
Pakistan has denied these charges despite a growing volume of evidence to the contrary - this includes links to terror attacks worldwide, like the 2005 London bombings.
READ | Pak 'One Of World's Most Dangerous, Terror Trail In Moscow, London'
And efforts to get the global community on its side have fallen flat too; after Pahalgam, for example, a closed-door consultation of the United Nations Security Council ignored Pak's complaints and asked tough questions about Lashkar and other terror groups continuing to operate from its territory.
READ | 'LeT Involved?': UN Security Council Blasts Pakistan Over Pahalgam
India underlined links between the Pak Army and known terrorists last week.
In a special briefing after Operation Sindoor, the government pointed to 'state funerals' for some of the men killed in the Indian air strikes, men of whom it said there was proof of terrorist links.
READ | "State Funeral For Terrorists": India Blasts Pak Claim Of Civilians Killed
The government pointed out that senior Pak Army figures were present for the funerals.
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