Nirmala Sitharaman attacked Pakistan while addressing a rally in Karnataka's Shimoga. She criticised Pakistan for failing to take action against terror camps on its territory. She said India had to attack JeM terror camp in Balakot because Pakistan chose to ignore it despite Intel

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday slammed Pakistan for claiming to be a "victim of terrorism". She said Pakistan did not take any action to eliminate Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps on its territory.

Sitharaman, while addressing a rally in Shimoga in Karnataka, said: "Pakistan says they are victims of terrorism. But when JeM claims responsibility for an attack and they have their training camps in Pakistan, then is it not Pak's responsibility to destroy these camps? But they didn't, so we attacked Balakot," she said.

Her statement comes at a time when political parties have raised several questions in relation to Balakot air strike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

This is not the first time Sitharaman has slammed Pakistan for failing to take action against terror camps on its territory despite having accurate Intel on them.

Earlier on Sunday, Sitharaman slammed opposition political parties for alleging that BJP was politicising armed forces.

She said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor any other NDA leader wants to politicise issues related to armed forces.

"Nobody wants to politicise the armed forces, not particularly myself or prime minister or anybody from here (government). We don't want to politicise the armed forces, she said.

Sitharaman asked whether it was wrong to compare how "weak" the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government's reaction was in 2008 after the Mumbai attacks with how "strong" the Modi-led NDA government reacted in 2019 after the Pulwama terror attack.

The JeM-orchestrated Pulwama terror attack claimed the life of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) paramilitary troopers, following which India retaliated strongly by dropping bombs on a JeM training camp in Balakot, Pakistan.

Since the Pulwama terror attack, both the nations have been engaged in a diplomatic standoff. On Sunday, Pakistan said it wants to verbally engage in negotiations with India after the Lok Sobha elections conclude.