New Delhi: Home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused Pakistan of giving legitimacy to militant groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, allowing its leader to “sit in the parliament" for instance, while these outfits carry out acts of terror against India.

“Terrorism is a global phenomenon and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been successful in bringing the international community on board with us. Today, The United States of America is at least condemning and warning Pakistan to stop sheltering Pakistan, otherwise funding will be stopped.

“In Pakistan, United Nations- designated terrorists are being given political legitimacy. Hafiz Saeed (Lashkar-e-Toiba chief) will form a political party, contest elections and sit in the parliament, and the Haqqani network too is being given legitimacy, whereas they have killed hundreds," Rajnath Singh said on the second day of the CNN-News 18 Rising India Summit.

Singh’s statements come in the wake of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s decision to launch his party’s manifesto on 23 March.

Saeed’s newly launched Milli Muslim League (MML) is all set to contest the Pakistan general elections later this year. On 8 March, the Islamabad high court set aside a decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan to reject Milli Muslim League’s application for registration as a political party. Singh said the government was making all attempts to find a solution to the problems in Jammu and Kashmir, which he said would always remain a part of India.

“We want a solution to the Kashmir problem and interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma has been made the special representative. He is open to dialogues with whoever wants to talk. Let me tell you, Kashmir was ours, it is ours and will always remain ours. The Kashmiri youth belong to us, but their lives are being played with and those who preach jihad to them, must first look inward before corrupting these children," Singh added.

With regard to internal security issues, Singh said that while Naxalism continued to be a major problem in left-wing extremism (LWE)-affected states, efforts put in by the security forces have seen the number of violent LWE incidents come down from more than 3,000 in the 1980s to less than 1,000 now —“with the key focus being the development initiatives in the LWE regions."

On economic crimes, Singh said the government was trying to minimise corruption, and was set to introduced a system of merit-based loans to prevent banking frauds.

Singh’s statement comes as the banking system grapples with a Rs12,636 crore fraud at the Punjab National Bank, allegedly carried out by jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi by fraudulently procuring letters of understanding (LoUs) to obtain loans.

“Transparency in the system has been our endeavour and even though I don’t want to name people involved in banking frauds who have fled the country, nobody has noticed that our government has been successful at exposing that fraud. To stop the rise of non-performing assets (NPA), we have stopped providing loans based on recommendations and should instead be given on the basis of merit," he said.

Singh said that the government has taken various steps to crack down on defaulters through the Fugitive Economic Offenders bill, “that would stop such people from fleeing and if they have left then all their property and assets in India will be seized."

Singh also added that even though the Benami property transaction provision act has been in place since 1988, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Narendra Modi had made the effort to notify the same.

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