Imran Khan 'desperate', shows growing sense of frustration: India on Pak PM raising Kashmir at Davos

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ANI Asia
Last Updated : Jan 23 2020 | 6:15 PM IST

India on Thursday slammed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for his call for international intervention to prevent a conflict between the "two-nuclear armed countries" over Kashmir, saying that such remarks made by the Pakistani leader was "desperate" and reflects a "growing sense of frustration".

At a weekly briefing here, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the global community has realised Pakistan's double standards with regard to terror and said that Islamabad should focus more on taking irreversible and credible action on tackling terror.

"We have seen reports about certain remarks on India and India-Pakistan relations made by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan at Davos.

We are hardly surprised by the content and tone of his remarks. There is nothing new in what he said. His remarks shows that he is desperate and losing hope. The comments are not only factually inaccurate and contradictory, but also demonstrate a growing sense of frustration," he said.

"Pakistan has to realise that the global community has seen through their double-standards. While they pretend to be victims of terrorism on the one hand, they support terrorists and extremist groups to carry out terror acts in India and other countries on the other hand," Kumar said.

The MEA spokesperson said that if Pakistan is indeed serious to normalise its ties with India, the onus is on Islamabad to create a conducive atmosphere free from terror and hostility.

"They have to take credible, irreversible and verifiable action against terror groups operating from its soil rather than making misleading and alarmist statements to divert the attention of international community. He should focus on what is happening in his own country. We do not need his advice on what is going on in India," Kumar further said.

Kumar's comments came a day after Khan said that the world cannot have two nuclear-armed nations "at such sensitive relations," in an apparent reference to the Kashmir issue.

"You cannot have two nuclear-armed countries even contemplating a conflict," he said during an interview with the International Media Council on the sidelines of WEF in Davos.

He also said that countries like the UN and US "must act" to prevent tensions between the "two nuclear-armed countries" from reaching a "point of no return". "This is why I asked for international overseers to come to the LoC," Khan asserted here.

Meanwhile, Kumar spoke about the next month's FATF meetings which will review Pakistan's progress on tackling terror funding.

"We are aware that the plenary and working group meeting (of FATF) will take place in Paris starting from February 16. We presume that FATF will evaluate the progress made by Pakistan on the basis of a set criteria," he said.

"In the last plenary meeting, the body had expressed concerns with overall lack of progress by Pakistan to address its terror financing risks, including serious deficiencies in demonstrating understanding of its transnational terror financing risks emanating from areas under its control," Kumar stated.

The FATF in 2018 placed Pakistan on the grey list and the watchdog has already granted Islamabad an extension till February 2020 during a meeting in October last year.

The body warned that Islamabad would be put on the blacklist if it did not comply with the remaining 22 out of 27 points related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.

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First Published: Jan 23 2020 | 6:08 PM IST

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