Any financial assistance provided by the International Monetary Fund to Pakistan is “no less than terror funding” and should be reconsidered, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday.

Singh was referring to the fresh $1 billion financial assistance programme that the United Nations financial agency approved for Islamabad on May 9 as part of its bailout package.

The defence minister claimed that a large part of the IMF’s funding would be misused by Pakistan. “I believe that Pakistan will spend a large portion of the $1 billion funds received from the International Monetary Fund on terror infrastructure…” Singh said during an event at an Air Force station in Bhuj.

“Wouldn’t this be considered indirect funding [of terrorism] by the International Monetary Fund, which is an international organisation?” Singh asked. “I want to ask this question to the world.”

He added: “I believe that today any global assistance or funding given to Pakistan is no less than terror funding. India wants the IMF to re-think its $1 billion assistance given to Pakistan.”

New Delhi does not want the funds it gives to the IMF to be used for creating terror infrastructure in Pakistan or any other country, said Singh.

India had on May 9 raised concerns about the efficacy of IMF’s programmes for Pakistan “given its poor track record, and also on the possibility of misuse of debt financing funds for state-sponsored cross-border terrorism”, said the Union government.

On May 10, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that the IMF funding was helping Pakistan in its conflict with India.

“I am not sure how the ‘International Community’ thinks the current tension in the subcontinent will be de-escalated when the IMF [International Monetary Fund] essentially reimburses Pakistan for all the ordnance it is using to devastate Poonch, Rajouri, Uri, Tangdhar and so many other places,” Abduallah had said on social media.

The comments by Singh came six days after India and Pakistan reached an “understanding” to halt firing following a four-day conflict.

Tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad had escalated on May 7 when the Indian military carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22.

The Pakistan Army retaliated to Indian strikes by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 22 Indian civilians and seven defence personnel were killed.

Also read: Why India was unable to stop IMF’s $2.4 billion assistance to Pakistan amid escalating hostilities