RAWALPINDI : Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), has strongly criticized Indian state institutions—particularly the military—for being influenced by extremist political ideologies.
In an interview with a German media outlet on September 5, Lt Gen Chaudhry emphasized that global powers, particularly the United States, must step in to help address the root causes of the long-standing tensions between Pakistan and India.
“The international community, especially major stakeholders like the US, needs to play a constructive role in resolving the core issues fueling the ongoing conflict between the two countries,” he stated.
Discussing the latest escalation in May between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, the ISPR chief stressed that the hostilities have only been temporarily paused by a ceasefire, not resolved.
“The dispute continues—whether it’s the unresolved Kashmir issue, India’s state-sponsored terrorism, or the growing extremism driven by Hindutva ideology. The irrational and arrogant posture India has adopted needs to be confronted,” he added.
Lt Gen Chaudhry pointed to India’s alleged support for terrorism inside Pakistan, asserting that what the country is experiencing is not an insurgency but a clear campaign of terrorism.
“There is no insurgency in areas like Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. What we’re facing is outright terrorism. Every attack inside Pakistan has a trail that leads back to Indian involvement—whether in terms of planning, funding, or facilitation,” he said.
He further mentioned that Pakistan has compiled and presented at least six dossiers from 2009 to 2023 to the international community, containing detailed evidence of Indian involvement in sponsoring terrorism within its borders.
When asked about the base of operations of terrorism, the military’s spokesperson said that India’s base of operation was Afghanistan.
“The Indians have a playbook of using terror as a tool of state. In Pakistan, their main tools are the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),” he said.
Responding to a question about why any Western partner of Pakistan has not endorsed Islamabad’s stance on India’s state-backed terrorism, the ISPR chief said that this was because New Delhi had a much bigger information and disinformation machinery at its disposal.
“The effort that the West needs to take, is that they have to accept that India is a terror-sponsoring state, and at the same time, you [West] have those economic relations and that notion of “net security provider’. There are some other lenses [through which] the West needs to look towards India.” he noted.
Addressing the allegations claiming that Pakistan was supporting terrorism, the ISPR chief said, “This is part of the Indian disinformation campaign. This is a classic thing [where] you [India] yourself commit terrorism [and on the other hand] you start crying on top of your lungs — that the other side is committing terrorism”.
“Pakistan became a frontline state with the West, with the US especially […] These Mujahideen who were instrumental in taking on the Soviets [USSR] at that time. Once the Soviets left, these [armed groups] were left in Afghanistan.
“There was a long period of civil war [in Afghanistan], which Pakistanis suffered and dealt with. Because of that culture, our society suffered,” he added, while stressing the cost paid by Pakistan both in human lives and economy.
When asked about Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e Mohammad (JeM), Lt Gen Chaudhry stressed that the state of Pakistan at no time had a policy of sponsoring terrorism anywhere.
“We believe as a state that a terrorist has no religion. There is no Muslim, Hindu, Christian terrorist,” he remarked, adding that Pakistan does not discriminate between terrorists and any non-state actors, and the action taken against them is in proportion to the posed threat.
“There is no space for any private army, militia in the country,” he stressed.
