Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday demanded that Pakistan arrest extremist group Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar and said India would do so if Islamabad failed. The Punjab chief minister tweeted the challenge after Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed that New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for the Pulwama attack without any evidence.
Forty Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in the attack on February 14. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Khan had “offered to take action” if India provided evidence backing its claims about the attack and said that Pakistan would be forced to retaliate if it is militarily attacked.
The Punjab chief minister said it was time for Khan to walk the talk. “You have Jaish chief Masood Azhar sitting in Bahawalpur and planning the attacks with help from the Inter-Services Intelligence,” Singh tweeted. “Go pick him up from there. If you cannot, let us know, we will do it for you.”
Meanwhile, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday took a jibe at his party colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu who was criticised for his comments on the attack that were perceived to be in defence of Pakistan. Sidhu, on February 15, had called the attack a “cowardly act” but had asked if an entire nation, meaning Pakistan, could be blamed for the actions of a handful of people. Sidhu has since claimed his comments were distorted.
Digvijaya Singh called on Sidhu to ask his friend “Imran bhai” to act against terrorists targeting India. The Congress leader also urged people to stop the “unnecessary persecution” of innocent Kashmiri students and traders across the country.
“Do we want Kashmir with the Kashmiris or without Kashmiris?” Digvijaya Singh said. “Can we not, for sometime, sweep our political differences under the carpet and come together to bring back the communal harmony and Kashmiri Muslim and Kashmiri Hindu brotherhood, which was the hallmark of Jammu and Kashmir?”
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