NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan reportedly said that resolving the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case was in the interest of Pakistan as it was an “act of terrorism.” The Pakistan PM made the comments in an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday. Khan said that he had asked his government to review the status of the case as resolving it was in Pakistan’s interest.
“We also want something done about the bombers of Mumbai. I have asked our government to find out the status of the case. Resolving that case is in our interest because it was an act of terrorism,” Khan told the English daily. Notably, his remarks come days after India slammed Pakistan for showing “little sincerity in bringing the perpetrators to justice”.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan admitted to international media that banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, led by Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, was behind the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Acknowledging that the attacks were “an act of terrorism”, Khan said he’s asked his government find out the status of the case.
During an interview to American daily The Washinton Post, journalist Lally Weymouth asked Khan, “India really wants to see the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai bombing prosecuted. The mastermind, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a leader of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, was released on bail in Pakistan while a nine-year trial has dragged on for six other suspects, with no results.

”In a statement issued on the 10th anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, India had expressed its disappointment with Pakistan as the masterminds and perpetrators of the deadly attack, which killed 166 people, continue to roam freely on the streets of Pakistan. 10 Pakistani terrorists, belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, had stormed into several places across Mumbai on the night of November 26, 2008, killing 166 people and injuring several others.
“India has elections coming up. The ruling party [of India] has an anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan approach. They rebuffed all my overtures,” he told the daily. He also added, “I have opened a visa-free peace corridor with India called Kartarpur [so that Indian Sikhs can visit a holy shrine in Pakistan]. Let’s hope that after the election is over, we can again resume talks with India,” he said.

To this Khan responded, “We also want something done about the bombers of Mumbai. I have asked our government to find out the status of the case. Resolving that case is in our interest because it was an act of terrorism.” Referring to the recently opened Kartarpur corridor, the cricketer-turned-politician added, “I have opened a visa-free peace corridor with India called Kartarpur [so that Indian Sikhs can visit a holy shrine in Pakistan]. Let’s hope that after the election is over, we can again resume talks with India.”

Reacting Khan’s comments on the Mumbai attacks, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat told news agency ANI, “We know who did it. I don’t think we have to get anymore statement from anybody. International community knows who did it. Acceptance is good but even without it, we knew who had done it.”Khan also claimed that his overtures of peace with India had been rejected by the Narendra Modi government repeatedly, alleging that the current government in India was “anti-Muslim” and “anti-Pakistan.”

Amid growing demands from the Trump administration to do more to combat terrorism emanating from its soil, Khan said he would not allow Pakistan to be treated like a “hired gun” to fight someone else’s war. The ties between Washington and Islamabad strained, especially after President Donald Trump, while announcing his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August last year, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to “agents of chaos” that kill Americans in Afghanistan.
In May this year, former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif had admitted that Pakistan-based terror outfits were responsible for 2008 Mumbai blasts. Speaking in an interview to Pakistan media Dawn, Sharif said, “Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross-border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Why can’t we complete trial?” (With Agency Inputs ).