“We have no doubt that India was behind Pakistan Stock Exchange attack”, says PM Imran in NA
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has named India as the perpetrator of the failed attack on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) building. The premier said that the terrorists wanted to take hostages but failed in their designs. Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility of the attack. The organization is known to have close financial relations with India.
“They wanted to create an environment of uncertainty and instability in Pakistan,” Imran said in the National Assembly. “There is no doubt that India is behind the attack. Just like the terrorist incident that took place in Mumbai, they wanted to kill and take innocent people hostage.”
He also paid tribute to those who laid their lives for keeping the country safe. “I pay tribute to them who laid down their lives for Pakistan and thwarted India’s attempt to destabilise Pakistan.”
The Pakistan Stock Exchange continued trading during the attack which lasted about eight minutes. Its main KSE-100 index dropped 220 points but it later recovered and was 200 points up at the close of the day.
Corona response
Imran also gave his government a pat on the back for the response to coronavirus and said that he did not cave into pressure to enforce a complete lockdown. He also said that while some of the countries were confused as to how to tackle the situation, his was not.
“We bore a lot of criticism in the beginning to impose a stricter lockdown. There was a lot of pressure on me. From my own people. From my own cabinet to impose something like India,” the prime minister said. “It is being said again and again that there was confusion [in our coronavirus response]. Mr Speaker, if there was any government in the world that wasn’t confused it was ours. Since day one,” he added.