NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tacitly admitted in an interview that Pakistan played a role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Speaking to Dawn, Sharif stated that terrorist organisations were thriving in Pakistan and "non-state actors" were responsible for the series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 which claimed over 160 lives.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar's terror outfits – Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad, – operating in the country with impunity, Sharif said: "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai?"

The PML-N leader was questioning why the trial into the Mumbai attacks was stalled at a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

Why can’t we complete the trial? It’s absolutely unacceptable. This is exactly what we are struggling for. President Putin has said it. President Xi has said it," he said.

Sharif, 68, was ousted from power when the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding public office for life following his involvement in the Panama Papers case. In February, the apex court also disqualified Sharif as the head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Citing the military and judiciary establishment, Sharif further said: "You can't run a country if you have two or three parallel governments. This has to stop. There can only be one government - the constitutional one."

The relations between the military and the Sharif government were at its lowest ebb in October 2016 when the latter told the former to act against home grown militant groups or face international isolation…..

The government can’t overlook the court orders into the matter.”

Earlier today, an aircraft that had arrived at the PAF’s Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi to reportedly fly out Colonel Hall returned after the diplomat failed to obtain clearance from pertinent authorities.

Plane returns from Rawalpindi leaving US diplomat in lurch

Sources told The Express Tribune that officials at the airbase reached the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to determine if the diplomat was allowed to leave the country.

Hall was jumping traffic lights when he hit a motorcyclist on April 7. Ateeq Baig, 22, died on the spot. Another was injured in the Margalla Road traffic accident.

Meanwhile, sources in the federal capital said that US vice secretary of state Alice Wells reached out to the Pakistani authorities telling them that Col Joseph is subject to diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention. Hence, Islamabad should refrain from any action against him and allow him to go back to the US, she further said.

Immunity to US diplomat to ‘erode people’s trust’

In response, Islamabad conveyed to Wells that Col Jospeh hasn’t been arrested yet because Pakistan respects the Vienna convention.

However, his case, is still being heard by the relevant court and any decision would be made in accordance with the law of the land.

The Pakistani authorities also conveyed their reservations on US restrictions imposed on the movement of Pakistan’s diplomatic staff in the US, demanding that these restrictions be removed immediately.

Both sides agreed to solve these issues via dialogue and mutual consent.

US ‘to impose new restrictions’ on Pakistani diplomats

Sources said that the federal court would also provide information to the court on international law applicable to the case.

Notwithstanding, reports are rife that efforts to solve the issue secretly are underway.

Furthermore, there are also reports that there can be a compromise between the US defence attache and the victim’s family through the payment of blood money.

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://tribune.com.pk/story/1708646/1-us-diplomat-will-not-allowed-leave-country-pakistan-tells-us/?amp=1#click=https://t.co/xlub0fSiYi

>>1385845

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://m.timesofindia.com/world/pakistan/nawaz-sharif-admits-pakistan-played-a-role-in-26/11-mumbai-terror-attacks/articleshow/64137414.cms

The measures include travel restrictions, as well as treating US diplomatic cargo at Pakistani airports and ports in accordance with Vienna Convention's Article 27 "which does not provide for an exemption from scanning".

Rules governing interaction between foreign diplomats and Pakistani officials, which were already communicated to the embassy, would also take effect, the notification said.

US diplomats in Pakistan are already prohibited from visiting high-security areas, such as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), to protect them against possible terrorist attacks.

The notification states the withdrawal of seven facilities afforded to US diplomats, including the use of non-diplomatic number plates on official vehicles, use of diplomatic number plates on unspecified or rented vehicles, and overshooting visa periods and/or the use of multiple passports.

The embassy will now also have to seek no objection certificates from the ministry to install radio communication at residences and safe houses, and while renting property or moving from one property to another.

The embassy will also be unable to use tinted windows on official vehicles as well as rented vehicles, or use SIMs that are not biometrically verified or registered.

US President Donald Trump's administration's travel regime forces Pakistani diplomats to stay within 25 miles of the city they are posted at, further straining already tense relations between the two countries who were once close allies in the war against terror.

The restrictions were earlier scheduled to come to effect on May 1, but were deferred until today by the US.

Pakistani diplomats, in private conversation, earlier pointed out that the US-Pakistan relationship was not as bad as the restrictions would indicate.

Despite recent tensions, Pakistan and the US still cooperate in a number of important areas, including defence, and the embassy wants this cooperation to continue. “The relationship is far, far better than such a step (imposing restriction) would suggest,” said a US observer.

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://www.dawn.com/news/amp/1407017#click=https://t.co/JLe6mqhY4q

>>1385845

Wow the Pakistani tweets to Navaz Sharif on this are all so negative on Twitter- I haven’t seen one supporting him.