New Delhi: Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, former Pakistani National Security Advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani has said that he can neither confirm nor deny the presence of terror organisations in Pakistan.In an interview, Durrani, who was Pakistan’s NSA during the Mumbai attacks in 2008, said that the Pakistani establishment, however, had worked relentlessly to eliminate the terror outfits.

“I cannot confirm or deny the presence of terror organisations in Pakistan, but to say that everything is clear would be a bit presumptuous. I can, however, say that the military, establishment and other law enforcement agencies have worked over the years in cracking down on such elements with considerable success,” he said, adding that the current state of relationship between both countries was bad.

Durrani was reported to have said, in 2017, that the Mumbai attacks had been carried out by a terror group based in Pakistan but that the government or the ISI had no role in it.  He was also critical of India’s assertion that Pakistan had failed to act despite being provided with evidence after the 2016 Pathankot attack. The former Pakistan NSA said “Making Pathankot an excuse and not providing evidence is counterproductive. I still say, get a third party. If there is so much mistrust among each other, get a third party. Ask them to mediate and sit between us or investigate if there is a linkage. I am convinced this will happen someday, but I hope we don’t go to war before that,”.

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Looking back at the Mumbai attacks, Durrani said the first set of evidence was provided in Marathi. Durrani added “Again, I go back to the Mumbai attacks. Although India said it provided evidence, but you talk to the Pakistani investigators, they say no, we didn’t get full evidence. The first set of evidence we got was in Marathi or in some local language, which we didn’t understand. Pakistan says India has done nothing about the Samjhauta blast investigation. And both have valid points,”.

While he was hopeful that the two countries would not resort to war, he was critical of the Indian media. He further added “I won’t put it to the extent of going to war, but there is so much hype being created by media in India and your leadership has upped the ante so much that for them to step back and go into a peaceful mood looks difficult,”.Pakistan, on the other hand, he added, had been measured in its response. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said his country will retaliate if India launches military strikes in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. Accusing India of playing judge and jury, Khan said New Delhi had blamed the attack on Islamabad “without any proof”.

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After the Pulwama attacks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Pakistan will have to pay a price for the attack and warned that security forces have been given full freedom to retaliate.