Pakistan has sought to justify the major issue of missing persons and admitted the Pakistani citizens are indeed involved in terror activities. The spokesman for the Pakistan Army – Major General Asif Ghafoor stated that the responsibility of all missing persons does not lie with the country as many such individuals are either associated with militant groups or have been killed fighting against Pakistan.

“Our hearts go with the families of missing persons being Pakistanis. However, we must realise that not every person missing is attributable to the state,” the DG ISPR said in his meeting with Amina Janjua, chairperson Defence of Human Rights on Friday.

Gafoor said individuals under the custody of Pakistan Government were being treated according to the law whereas many had joined militant organisations such as the TTP in Afghanistan and other conflict zones.

“More so there are many who got killed fighting as part of TTP against the state of Pakistan,” he said. “Such individuals are also to be accounted for somewhere while listing the missing persons.”

New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of state-sponsored terrorism in both India and Afghanistan. Recently, India accused Pakistan of having a “direct hand” in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir which killed over 44 soldiers of the CRFP.