Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reconsider its $1-billion loan to Pakistan, underscoring that Islamabad could use a significant portion of it to fund terrorism.
Last week, the IMF approved a $1-billion bailout package to debt-ridden Pakistan as part of its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) amid its military hostilities with India before the understanding between the two countries to hold down fire, a deal the US claimed to have brokered.
Addressing military personnel at the Bhuj Air Force Station, Rajnath said: “India wants the IMF to reconsider its decision as I believe Pakistan will spend a large portion of the loan on terror infrastructure. It (the bailout package) is a form of indirect funding to terror.”
The air force station in Bhuj was one of the military installations targeted by Pakistani missiles and drones, all of which were intercepted by India’s robust air defence radar.
Rajnath’s visit to the station was his second to a military base after Operation Sindoor, which destroyed nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7.
The defence minister, who had visited Srinagar’s Badami Bagh cantonment on Thursday, iterated India’s zero-tolerance approach to terrorismas the core of its national defence doctrine.
“The Pakistan government has also announced financial assistance to rebuild the terror infrastructure of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) located in Muridke and Bahawalpur. A significant portion of the $1 billion coming from the IMF will certainly be used to fund this terror infrastructure. Would this not be considered indirect funding by the IMF?” Rajnath said.
Muridke is the hub of the LeT while Bahawalpur is the headquarters of the JeM.
The Pahalgam attack, in which 26 civilians were killed, was carried out by Lashkar terrorists.
Rajnath said there was no guarantee that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons wouldn’t fall into the hands of terrorist elements.