Never Heard of India-Sponsored Terrorism, says Former CIA Chief David Petraeus

Responding to a question originally directed at foreign secretary S Jaishankar during Raisina Dialogue, former Central Investigative Agency (CIA) chief David Petraeus said he has never heard about "India-sponsored terrorism".

Updated: January 19, 2018 3:06 PM IST

By India.com News Desk | Edited by Shashank Shantanu

Never Heard of India-Sponsored Terrorism, says Former CIA Chief David Petraeus
Former Central Investigative Agency (CIA) chief David Petraeus

New Delhi, Jan 19: In a major humiliation for Pakistan, a top former US intelligence official has rubbished Islamabad’s claims of New Delhi’s involvement in fomenting unrest in Balochistan.

Responding to a question originally directed at foreign secretary S Jaishankar during Raisina Dialogue, former Central Investigative Agency (CIA) chief David Petraeus said he has never heard about “India-sponsored terrorism”.

“I might offer that…as director of the CIA, and commander of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan, I never once heard the term ‘Indian state-sponsored terrorism'”, said Petraeus who served as CIA director from  September 2011 to November 2012.

Petraeus’s statement has come amid Pakistan’s repeated accusation that India is supporting insurgency in its province of Balochistan. Pakistan has long rubbished reports about its regarding Army’s atrocities on people of the natural resource-rich region.

Earlier this month, the US suspended military aid to Pakistan after President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of “lies and deceit” in return of the $33 billion aid provided in the past decades.

Pakistan also claims to have arrested Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav from Balochistan accusing him of being an spy.

However, a Baloch activist exposed Pakistan’s notorious spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Baloch activist Mama Qadir Baloch told an Indian news channel that Jadhav was actually kidnapped from Iran and brought to Balochistan and handed over to Pakistani agencies. (Also Read: Pakistan ISI Paid Terrorist Crores to Kidnap Kulbhushan Jadhav From Iran: Report)

In an interview with CNN-News 18, Mama Baloch revealed explosive details of Jadhav’s kidnapping and the conspiracy hatched by the ISI.

Baloch said that the ISI paid crores to a terrorist named Mullah Omar Baloch Irani to abduct Jadhav from Irani port city of Chabahar. Mama Baloch added that the coordinators of an organisation named ‘Voice for Missing Balochs’ had witnessed Jadhav’s kidnapping.

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