‘Different from Hindus': What did Pakistan Army chief say days before Pahalgam horror

India on Tuesday witnessed a deadly terrorist attack in the Pahalgam area of Jammu and Kashmir, with authorities suspecting that the perpetrators may have crossed over from Kishtwar in Jammu and reached Baisaran via Kokernag in South Kashmir—executing one of the deadliest assaults on civilians in the Valley in recent years.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack that comes just days after Pakistan Army chief Gen Asim Munir described Kashmir as the "jugular vein" of his country and invoked the two-nation theory propounded by Pakistan’s founder, MA Jinnah. Follow Pahalgam terrorist attack news LIVE updates

Scores in India condemned terror sponsored by Pakistan agencies, operators, terror groups post the Pahalgam terrorist attack and attributed Pakistan Army chief Gen Asim Munir's ‘provocative’ statement for the same.

What did Pak Army chief say

Addressing a conclave of Overseas Pakistanis in Islamabad on Wednesday, April 16, Gen Munir said Pakistan would continue to stand by the Kashmiri people in the “struggle against the Indian occupation.”

"It was our jugular vein, it is our jugular vein, we will not forget it," he said.

India has maintained its stance before Pakistan that the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh "was, is and shall forever” remain an integral part of the country.

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The ties between India and Pakistan have never been friendly and nosedived after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in 2019, a move by the central government that revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories on August 5 that year.

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In the same address, the Pakistan Army chief had also called upon people of the country to tell stories to children so that they don't forget they are “different from Hindus”

"You have to tell Pakistan's story to your children so that they don’t forget that our forefathers thought we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life," he said, evoking the two-nation theory propagated by Pakistan's founder MA Jinnah.

"Our religions are different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory that was laid there. We are two nations, we are not one nation," news agency PTI quoted him as saying.

The general tried to present the case of a country that had a great past and a promising future.

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“No matter where you live, remember - your roots lie in a high civilisation, noble ideology, and proud identity,” he said. “We have never bowed down before adversity, and we never will.”

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal and several others on Wednesday cited the ‘jugular vein’ statement of Munir and said the attack was “obviously” state sponsored. He said, "'It will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it, we will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their historical struggle', so obviously this is state sponsored, just a week ago it happened (was said). It's a very well-thought out, well planned terrorist attack. Because the valley is just half an hour away from Pahalgam, it is a high security zone, because there is Amarnath shrine there, lot of security forces there, those who attacked knew, you can't reach the valley except on ponies, it was alleged that they came from Kishtwar, through Kokernag, and then came here, but certainly, it connects Pakistan to it," Sibal said.

India rejects statement

India had strongly rejected Munir’s comments, reiterating that Pakistan's only link to Jammu and Kashmir is through vacating the territories it illegally occupies.

At a media briefing in New Delhi on April 17, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the statement, asking “how can anything foreign be in a jugular vein.”

"This (Jammu and Kashmir) is a Union territory of India. Its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country," Jaiswal added.

India also rejected Pakistan’s claim that Tahawwur Rana—accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks—is a Canadian citizen and therefore not Pakistan’s concern.

"Pakistan may try very hard but its reputation as the epicentre of global terrorism will not diminish," Jaiswal said.

"The extradition of Rana is a reminder yet again to Pakistan that it needs to act to bring to justice other perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks whom it continues to shield," he added.

Tahwwur Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, was extradited to India on April 10 and is currently in the custody of Indian investigating agencies.