Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to rethink its latest bailout package to Pakistan.
Speaking at the Bhuj Airbase, he asserted that Pakistan was trying to rebuild the dismantled terrorist network destroyed by India during Operation Sindoor.
While Singh praised the “Air Warriors”, he also emphasised that a significant portion of the IMF loan would “certainly” be used to fund terror infrastructure.
The Air Force base in Bhuj was one of the military sites in India that was targeted by Pakistan during the hostilities between the two countries earlier this month.
“The Pakistan government has also announced financial assistance to rebuild the terror infrastructure of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) located in Muridke and Bahawalpur. A significant portion of the one billion dollars coming from the IMF will certainly be used to fund this terror infrastructure. Would this not be considered indirect funding by the IMF?” the defence minister said.
On May 9, at the height of hostilities between India and Pakistan, the IMF cleared a $1-billion tranche for Islamabad as part of its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) lending program despite objections by India.
Singh further stressed that any kind of financial assistance to Pakistan was nothing less than terror financing.
The government in Pakistan is planning to spend around 140 million rupees – collected from ordinary Pakistani taxpayers – on Masood Azhar, even though he is a UN-designated terrorist, Singh said.
Singh’s assertion comes a day after Pakistan minister Rana Tanveer Hussain visited Muridke – one of the nine terror bases hit by India during Operation Sindoor – and said that the government would rebuild the area at its own expense.
Muridke is the hub of the LeT, while Bahawalpur is the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammed. The Pahalgam attack, where 26 people were killed, was carried out by Lashkar terrorists.
While seeking to draw the world’s attention to Pakistan’s irresponsible attitude towards nuclear weapons, the Defence Minister quoted Indian poet Bashir Badr. Singh said there was no guarantee that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons wouldn’t fall into the hands of terrorist elements in the future.
“The clothes are made of paper, it’s a city of lamps – walk carefully, for you are intoxicated,” Singh quoted Badr while warning Pakistan.
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