Imran Khan, who was on three-day visit to the US, said the Pulwama attack was an “indigenous thing”. Imran Khan, who was on three-day visit to the US, said the Pulwama attack was an "indigenous thing". “It was a Kashmiri boy radicalised by the brutality of the security forces. He blew himself up," he said

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat Thursday said there is “ample proof” of what happened in Pulwama, days after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed the terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel was an “indigenous thing”.

“We are aware of the truth. So we don’t have to get carried away by any statement. The truth is known to us and our establishment. Our intelligence agencies had given ample proof of what had happened in Pulwama and that is all I would like to say,” Rawat told reporters.

Khan, who was on three-day visit to the US, made the remarks while speaking at an event organised by Washington-based think-tank US Institute of Peace.

“It was a Kashmiri boy radicalised by the brutality of the security forces. He blew himself up. But because this group claimed responsibility, which was in India as well, Jaish-e-Mohammed is operating in India — but Pakistan suddenly came in the limelight,” Khan said on Tuesday.

Khan also admitted that about 30,000-40,000 “armed people”, who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir, were in Pakistan and accused the previous governments of not telling the truth to the US about the militant groups operating in the country.

India and Afghanistan accuse Pakistan of providing safe haven to the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani network, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other militant groups, which carry out attacks in the two countries.

“Until we came into power, the governments did not have the political will, because when you talk about militant groups, we still have about 30,000-40,000 armed people who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir,” Khan said.

Khan said it is in the interest of Pakistan that “we do not allow any armed militant groups to operate” in our country.

“We are the first government that has started disarming militant groups. This is the first time it’s happening. We’ve taken over their institutes, their seminaries. We have administrators there,” said Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party formed its first federal government in August last year.

“So it is for the first time in Pakistan that we have decided that there will be no armed militias in our country,” he added.