Islamabad/New Delhi: At a time when Pakistan is under immense international pressure to take strict action against terror organisations operating on its soil, former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has confessed that the country’s intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was practically hand-in-gloves with terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad. In an interview, Musharraf admitted that the ISI had worked with JeM in the past to carry out bomb blasts in India. Speaking to Pakistan news channel Hum TV, Musharraf said that his government did not take any action against the terror organisation JeM when he was in power because the Pakistani intelligence agencies were “working with the group” and were in cohorts with Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammad to carry out bomb blasts in India.
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When the host asked why the Musharraf government did not take any action against the JeM before 2007, the former Pakistan President replied that during his tenure the intelligence agencies were involved in carrying out bomb blasts in India because of which the ISI didn't take any particular action against the group and hence his government did not insist on it. Musharraf claimed that India and Pakistan would carry out bomb blasts in each other’s countries as “tit for tat”.
Significantly, Musharraf also claimed that 26/11 Mumbai attack Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Daawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba were the "best NGOs of Pakistan" and had not indulged in any terrorist activity in the country. Pakistan’s former military head and President also alleged that Jaish was also involved in a suicide bomb attack against him, and welcomed the Imran Khan government’s decision to take action against terror groups such as JeM. He said, “This is a good move. I have always said that the JeM is a terrorist organisation and they only had carried out a suicide attack in an attempt to assassinate me. Action should be taken against them. I am happy the government is taking a tough stand against them," During his tenure, Musharraf had survived two assassination attempts.
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Following the IAF strike in Balakot last month, in which JeM camp was destroyed, Pakistan has been facing mounting global pressure to act upon the terror organisations operating from its territory. As a result, the Imran Khan government announced Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation would be placed in the list of banned organisations. It also took 44 members of terrorists of JeM, including Masood Azhar's brother Abdul Rauf Asghar alias Mufti Abdur Rauf, into preventive detention for ‘investigation. The air strike by the Indian Air Force at Balakot camp on February 26 was carried out in retaliation of the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility for the attack.