Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], May 2 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir leaders have criticised Pakistan over its history of supporting terrorism. GM Shaheen of JDU and Altaf Thakur of BJP have condemned Pakistan's actions, with Thakur demanding severe punishment and Shaheen highlighting Pakistan's decades-long role in promoting terrorism.

On India's efforts to bring back Pakistan on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Jammu and Kashmir's Janata Dal United (JDU) President GM Shaheen told ANI, 'It is essential for these people to go to the grey list. We have been providing evidence every month for the last thirty-five years. We have given thousands of proofs regarding Azhar Masood... They (Pakistan) should have banned these things within Pakistan 20 years ago. They supported them. They selected and sent the soldiers across the border to Jammu and Kashmir and committed target killings...'

Targeting Pakistan, Shaheen further said, 'It has been their policy to support terrorism, target India, target Russia, target America.'

Meanwhile, on Bilawal Bhutto's remarks on SKY News that Pakistan has a past of supporting extremism, Jammu and Kashmir BJP leader Altaf Thakur stated that Pakistan is a source of terrorism and a paradise for terrorists.

He told ANI, 'Pakistan is the source of terrorism in the world. It supports terrorism, and it sells terrorists. Pakistan launched a big attack in Pahalgam. Wherever there is terrorism, Pakistan is supporting it. Pakistan is the paradise of terrorists. Today, the world knows it, and the world also wants to fight against terrorism. Suppose the world is united against terrorists and terrorism. In that case, I think Pakistan should be put on the grey list again because Pakistan is a source of terrorism, Pakistan supports terrorism, and the foreign policy of Pakistan is also a terrorist.'

He further said, 'First Bilawal Bhutto, then his foreign minister, his deputy prime minister, through an international channel openly stated that they were supporting terrorism long ago, they were exporting, and they are promoting terrorism. This is the foreign policy of Pakistan to support terrorism.'

The admission from Pakistan's top echelon on its tacit support to Terror operatives comes against the backdrop of the deadly Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, which killed 26 people. The Lashkar-e-Taiba, a proscribed terror group with deep ties to Pakistan, orchestrated the attack. (ANI)