Amid ongoing tension with Pakistan over the Pahalgam attack, the Congress on Tuesday urged the central government to oppose the neighbouring nation’s loan plea to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“The IMF has just announced that its Executive Board is meeting on May 9th, 2025, to consider Pakistan's request for a new $1.3 billion loan under the IMF's Resilience and Sustainability Facility. The INC expects India to strongly oppose this assistance,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X.
Twenty six tourists - 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen - died in the attack on April 22 at Pahalgam's Baisaran meadow . The Resistance Front, a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, initially claimed responsibility. However, it recently denied any role in the attack. "TRF unequivocally denies any involvement in the Pahalgam incident. Any attribution of this act to TRF is false, hasty," the terror outfit said in a statement.
In a recent interview to Russian government-run RIA Novosti news agency, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said, "I think Russia or China or even Western countries can play a very, very positive role in this crisis and they can even set up an investigation team that should be assigned this job to investigate whether India or Mr. Modi is lying or he is telling the truth. Let an international team find out."
Meanwhile, India brought up the Pahalagam terror attack at the United Nations. Calling itself the "victim of cross border terrorism", India flagged the Pakistan Defence Minister's "open confession" to training and funding terrorists.
Ambassador Yojna Patel, India's Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, said his confession was not surprising and it exposed Pakistan as a "rogue state" that has been fuelling global terrorism.
"The world can no longer turn a blind eye," said Ambassador Patel.
According to a report by Indian Express, the Pakistan stock market plunged by around 2,000 points on April 24 after India acted against the neighbouring country following the Pahalgam terror attack.
According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, “The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 1,086.51, or 0.93 per cent, to stand at 116,139.63 from the previous close at 11:13am. At 2:56pm, the index plunged 2,116.92, or 1.81pc, to stand at 115,109.22.”
The IMF approved loans of $2 billion in March to bail Pakistan out and inflation dropped to 0.7%, a three-decade low, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), showing signs of an economic recovery after having reached a record high of 38% in May 2023.
Pakistan’s economy is heavily dependent on the loans it has secured from the IMF.
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