India-Pakistan conflict arose due to terrorists that departed from Pakistan: Pompeo

The recent India-Pakistan conflict arose due to terrorists that departed from Pakistan, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday, asking Islamabad to stop "harbouring" terrorists. He was referring to the recent escalation in tensions between the two nuclear states following the deadly Pulwama attack. On February 14, at least 42 CRPF personnel were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 30 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir.

"We saw what happened with India, the conflict that arose there as a result of terrorists that departed from Pakistan. We need the Pakistanis to step up. They need to stop harbouring terrorists," Pompeo told Fox and Friends in an interview.

He said the Trump administration has taken action against Pakistan that no other previous governments have taken.

However, he said, "We need Pakistan to do more. They have to stop harbouring these terrorists."

Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had assured the world that Pakistani soil will not be used for carrying out terrorist strikes in other countries. Addressing a public a rally at Chachro in southern Sindh province near border, Khan accused his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi of resorting to the "politics of hatred" and beating war drums just to win the coming Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in May this year.

"The politics of hatred, dividing people for votes, is easy politics. This is the politics of Narendra Modi. Divide humans, spread hatred and when a leader starts this, the workers under him do what we saw happened to the Kashmiris in India after Pulwama," Khan said referring to a series of attacks on Kashmiris across the country.