Pak terrorists carried out 26/11 Mumbai attacks, says Sharif

​Lahore: For the first time, Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif has publicly acknowledged that militant organisations are active in the country and questioned the policy to allow the ‘non-state actors’ to cross the border and ‘kill’ people in Mumbai, a media report said. 

Sharif, who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, said Pakistan has isolated itself. "We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan's narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it," Sharif said. 

“Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?” said Sharif in an interview to Dawn newspaper published on Saturday. His statement is seen as a reference to the trial against Pakistani suspects of the attack in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable (to allow non-state actors to cross the border and commit terrorism). President (Vladimir) Putin has said it. President Xi (Jinping) has said it.” Sharif was prime minister when 10 men belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group landed on the Mumbai shoreline in a dinghy on November 26, 2008, before splitting into four groups and embarking on a rampage in which 166 people were killed.

India has said Islamabad is failing to act against those behind the raids, including LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, who has a $10 million US bounty on his head. Pakistan admits the attacks were planned on its soil but denies official involvement.

Pakistan’s interior ministry in April 2018 removed the chief prosecutor from the terror attack case for “not taking the government line”. Sharif hinted Pakistan has lost international support because of its security policy. “We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. 

Afghanistan’s narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it,” he said. Pakistan’s Supreme Court in February ordered that Sharif be removed as head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), six months after the court disqualified him as the country’s leader over unreported income.