Pak minister talks big about Pulwama attack, tones down after uproar

Flustered at Pakistan opposition leader Ayaz Sadiq’s disclosure on circumstances that led to release of Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, an MP from Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party inadvertently admitted that Pakistan was behind the Pulwama attack in Jammu in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

Fawad Chaudhury, Federal minister boasts in Pakistan National Assembly that Pulwama was a great achievement of Imran Khan govt. “ghar me ghus ke maara” he says and Pulwama. pic.twitter.com/VVY6Lsm3GM

— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) October 29, 2020

“Humne Hindustan ko ghus ke maara (We hit India in their home). Our success in Pulwama, is a success of the people under the leadership of Imran Khan. You and us are all part of that success,” Fawad Chaudhury, a minister said in the national assembly.

As the statement lead to an uproar in the house, Fawad changed track and rephrased his line as: “Pulwama ke waqiyeh ke baad, jab humne India ko ghus ke maara (When we hit India in their home after the incident at Pulwama”.

Also read: Pak economy may dip further, as FATF refuses to get country out of grey list

A day before, opposition leader Ayaz Sadiq had given out details about a meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, immediately after an encounter between Indian and Pakistani fighter jets near the Line of Control in 2019.

Qureshi told a visibly upset General Bajwa that unless he released Indian pilot Abhinandan whose plane crashed across the Line of Control, India would attack Pakistan “that night by 9 pm.”

The dogfight had broken out less than 24 hours after Indian jets bombed a camp of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan’s Balakot, in response to the suicide attack on a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pulwama on February 14.

“I remember Shah Mahmood Qureshi was in the meeting which (Prime Minister) Imran Khan had refused to attend and when Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa came into the room, his legs were shaking and he was perspiring. Foreign Minister said for god’s sake let Abhinandan go, India’s about to attack Pakistan at 9 pm,” Sadiq recounted the events of the meeting.

Sadiq, a member of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, was meant to target the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf party and turn public sentiment against Imran Khan. The statement, as expected, created a storm in Pakistan, prompting Imran Khan’s party to go defensive.