NEW DELHI – Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has officiallyresponded to the controversial statement regarding Mumbai Attacks by formerPakistani PM link>link>Nawaz Shariflink> .

She on Sunday dubbed as a ‘serious disclosure’ Pakistan’s ousted PM NawazSharif publicly acknowledging that terrorist organisations were active inhis country. Sharif also questioned Pakistan’s policy to allow the”non-state actors” to cross the border and “kill” people in Mumbai,according to a media report.

Sitharaman also said that it provedlink>link>Indialink> ‘s position that the handlers of26/11 Mumbai terror attack were in Pakistan. “Well, it is very seriousdisclosure. link>link>Indialink> ‘s position has been that themastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from Pakistan. We stronglybelieve that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan. It (Sharif’sremarks) only proves that link>link>Indialink> ‘s stand has been right all theway,” she said at a press conference, in response to a query.

On May 12, 2918, Sharif had acknowledged that terrorist organisations wereactive in Pakistan and questioned the policy to allow the “non-stateactors” to cross the border and “kill” people in Mumbai, as per a mediareport.

“We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative isnot being accepted. Afghanistan’s narrative is being accepted, but ours isnot. We must look into it,” he had told *Dawn*.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana MasoodAzhar’s militant organisations – Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad -operating in the country, Sharif had said, “Militant organisations areactive in Pakistan. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them tocross the border and kill over 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Whycan’t we complete the trial.

He was further quoted as saying, “It’s absolutely unacceptable (to allownon-state actors to cross the border and commit terrorism there). President(Vladimir) Putin has said it. President Xi (Jinping) has said it.”