Overview

• Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitted to three decades of supporting militant proxies for the US and Britain, calling it a 'mistake' that harmed Pakistan.
• Asif claimed Pakistan's record would have been 'unblemished' if it had not joined the Soviet-Afghan war or the post-9/11 war on terror.
• He accused India of staging the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 28 people, as a false-flag operation to destabilize the region.
• The Resistance F4ront (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
• Indian authorities have traced digital footprints of the attackers to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and Karachi, further straining bilateral relations.