IMF must rethink assistance to Pakistan, says Rajnath Singh
Bhuj: India on Friday called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reconsider its $1-billion assistance to Pakistan, suggesting that Islamabad could use it for terror funding.
In an address to military personnel here, Defence minister Rajnath Singh said India does not want the funding it gives to the IMF should be used directly or indirectly to create terror infrastructure in Pakistan or any other country.
“I believe that in today’s time, any kind of financial assistance to Pakistan is nothing less than terror funding.
“India would like the IMF to reconsider its assistance of one billion dollars to Pakistan and refrain from giving any kind of assistance in future,” he said.
Singh, who arrived at the Bhuj Air Force station in the morning to review the overall security situation, lauded the Indian Air Force for spearheading the campaign against terrorism effectively.
He said during ‘Operation Sindoor’, India’s armed forces not only dominated the enemy but also succeeded in decimating them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined ‘Operation Sindoor’, Singh said.
Lauding the Indian Air Force for spearheading the campaign against terrorism effectively, he said, “Our Air Force has touched new and greater heights with its valour, courage and glory.”
The Air Force base here was among the military infrastructure that Pakistan targeted during the four-day confrontation between the two militaries.
In his address, he said that the $1 billion IMF assistance to Pakistan would be used to fund terror infrastructure, and wondered if that would not be considered “indirect funding” by an international organisation.
Singh said Pakistan has again started rebuilding the destroyed terror infrastructure, and its government has collected taxes from the common Pakistani citizens to give it to Masood Azhar, the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed and a UN-designated terrorist.
The Pakistan government has also announced financial assistance to rebuild
the terror infrastructure of Lashkar-e-Taiba and JeM in Muridke and Bahawalpur, he said.
