Pakistan Foreign minister Khawaja Asif has claimed that Islamabad could have swapped Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav for a terrorist involved in an attack on an army school in Peshawar in the year 2014.
Asif, during a conversation at the Asia Society in New York on Tuesday, said, “The TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) operates from the Afghan soil. The terrorist, who killed the children in the APS (Army Public School) in Peshawar is in Afghan custody. The National Security Advisor (NSA) told me that we can exchange that terrorist with the terrorist you have, which is Kulbhushan Jadhav.”
Asif did not give more details.
Asif’s comments are being seen as seeking to deflect the criticism of Pakistan by the United States for providing safe havens to terror groups while trying to imply that Indian intelligence agencies were backing terrorists from the Afghan soil.
Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for alleged involvement in espionage and subversive activities. His execution stayed after India moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
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