In my entire career, never heard of India-sponsored terrorism: Ex-CIA chief

New Delhi: Ex-CIA director David Petraeus said that in his entire career he "never once heard the term Indian state-sponsored terrorism."

According to reports, Petraeus intervened on a question about India-sponsored terror that was originally directed at soon-to-be-former foreign secretary S Jaishankar from an audience member at the Raisina dialogue on Thursday.

Petraeus headed International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in 2010-11 and was Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief from September 6, 2011 to November 9, 2012.

"I might offer that as director of the CIA, and commander of ISAF in Afghanistan, I never once heard the term 'Indian state-sponsored terrorism'," said Petraeus, as seen in a video clip circulating online.

The ex-chief's comment can be a good answer to Pakistan, which has been claiming that unrest and terror in the restive Balochistan province is sponsored by India.

Balochis, however, say that the terror and atrocity is perpetrated by the Pakistani state and army, including alleged rapes and 'disappearances'.

Balochis also say that the existing separatist trends in the province are not a disparate incident, but a result of the behaviour meted out to them by their government.

Pakistan has lately been under US fire as President Donald Trump began his broadsides against Pakistan in August and kept up the pressure with a New Year's Day tweet roundly berating the country for "lies and deceit" in return for as much as USD 33 billion in aid it has got from the US in over the last decade and a half.

The Trump administration then suspended as much as USD 2 billion of military assistance to Pakistan, a development that had Islamabad and the country's army frothing at the mouth.