Defence Minister Rajnath Singh meets armed forces personnel at the Bhuj air force station in Gujarat.
Credit: PTI Photo
Hyderabad: India on Friday appealed to the International Monetary Fund to rethink on providing financial support to Pakistan with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh claiming that Pakistan has begun rebuilding the terror infrastructure of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed and a part of the money received from the IMF would be used to fund such infrastructure.
Addressing the armed forces personnel at Air Force Station Bhuj with IAF chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh by his side, the minister also confirmed use of Brahmos supersonic cruise missile to hit targets inside Pakistan while making it clear that the Operation Sindoor was far from over.
“Our actions were just a trailer, we will show the full picture, if need be. Attacking and eliminating terrorism is the new normal of New India,” he said.
Elaborating on India’s opposition to the IMF support to the western neighbour, he said, “The Pakistan government has announced financial assistance to rebuild the terror infrastructure of LeT and JeM located in Muridke and Bahawalpur. Certainly, a large part of the IMF’s one billion dollars assistance will be used to fund the terror infrastructure.”
“Will this not be considered indirect funding by the IMF, an international organisation? Any financial assistance to Pakistan is no less than terror funding. The funds India gives to the IMF should not be used, directly or indirectly, to create terror infrastructure in Pakistan or any other country,” Rajnath said.
The minister poses such questions to the IMF days before New Delhi is to dispatch teams of Parliamentarians, cutting across the political barrier, to other countries for appraising the policy makers in those countries about the recent Indo-Pak flare up in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam carnage.
Noting that Pakistan has begun to rebuild its terror infrastructure destroyed by India, Singh appealed to the IMF to reconsider its one-billion-dollar assistance to Islamabad and refrain from providing any support in future as well.
“Pakistan will spend the tax collected from its citizens to give around Rs 14 crore to Masood Azhar, the head of terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, even though he is a UN-designated terrorist,” he said.
Rajnath’s appeal to the IMF comes a day after Rajnath said Pakistan being an “irresponsible and rogue” nation, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should keep Pakistan’s nuclear weapons under its supervision.
On the use of Brahmos missiles to strike at some of the Pakistan Air Force bases, the Defence Minister said, “Pakistan has itself accepted the power of the BrahMos missile. This Made-in-India missile showed Pakistan the light of day in the darkness of night.”
He also appreciated the role played by the Akash air defence system and DRDO made radars to create an impregnable aerial shield on the western front.
The minister asserted that the current ceasefire would mean that India kept Pakistan on probation on the basis of its behaviour. “If the behaviour improves, it is fine; but if there is any disturbance, harshest punishment will be given,” he said.
This is the minister’s second visit in two days to a forward military station post Op Sindoor to talk to the soldiers who were a part of the four-day flare-up. On Thursday, accompanied by Chief of the Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi, he visited the Badami Bagh cantonment in Srinagar.
In Bhuj, asserting that India’s fighter aircraft are capable of striking every corner of Pakistan without crossing the border, Rajnath said, “The world has witnessed how IAF destroyed terror camps and later Pakistan’s airbases. The IAF gave the proof that India's war policy and technology have changed.”
“IAF spearheaded this campaign against terrorism; It not only dominated the enemy, but decimated them during the operation,” he added.