Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif said worshippers were not killed during prayers even in India, in remarks made following the deadly suicide bombing inside a mosque in Peshawar. The suicide attack left 100 people dead and many injured.
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“Worshippers weren’t killed during prayers even in India or Israel but it happened in Pakistan,” Khawaja Asif said in Pakistan’s national assembly.
“This war started from Swat during the PPP’s tenure and it was concluded during the PML-N’s previous tenure, and peace was established in the country from Karachi to Swat. But if you remember, a year-and-a-half or two years ago […] we were given a briefing two, three times in this same hall in which it was clearly stated that talks could be carried out against these people and they can be brought toward peace,” he said.
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“But this is a tragedy where we require the same resolve and unity which was expressed in 2011-2012. I will not talk for long but I will say briefly that at the start, we sowed the seeds for terrorism,” he asserted.
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Referring to Russia’s invasion on Afghanistan, the minister said that Pakistan offered its services to the United States ‘on rent’.
“General Zia was the ruler at the time […] the agreement made with the US went on for eight to nine years after which the US went back to Washington celebrating the fact that Russia was defeated,” he added.
