LAHORE – Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned India of retaliation in case of any aggressive military action following New Delhi’s allegations of Islamabad’s involvement in the deadly Pulwama attack.
In his first comments addressing the attack, he said India should “stop blaming Pakistan without any proof or evidence”.
“If you think that you will launch any kind of attack on Pakistan, Pakistan will not just think about retaliation, Pakistan will retaliate,” he said, adding that only dialogue could help solve issues in Kashmir.
In a video message, the premier while giving policy statement about Pulwama incident urged Indian authorities to share any “actionable intelligence”.
The premier ruled out any possibility of Pakistan being responsible for the Pulwama attack at a time when a high-profile visit from the Saudi Crown Prince was underway.
https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1097776149126500353
PM Imran said Islamabad was ready to co-operate with India in investigating the attack. But he also said Delhi should reflect on why Kashmiri youth had reached a point where they no longer feared death.
“I welcome all kinds of investigations to be done to find out the perpetrators of the attack,” he offered.
PM Imran then warned the Indian authorities that in case of possible attack, Pakistan will be left with no option but to retaliate back.
Instead of a dialogue process to resolve the Kashmir Issue, India has started a propaganda war against Pakistan, he added.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/pakistan-draws-unsgs-attention-towards-deteriorating-regional-security-via-letter/
The prime minister said he had not addressed the attack earlier because of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s high-profile visit to Pakistan on Sunday and Monday.
Khan said Pakistan is heading towards stability and peace, adding that while India didn’t even think that Pakistan has no advantage linked with the Pulwama attack and blamed Pakistan for the attack without any solid proof.
Pakistan suffered the most due to terrorism, the PM said, adding that Pakistan wants peace and stability in the region.
“It’s not in our interests that somebody from here goes out to do terrorism, nor that somebody comes here and does terrorism.”
He also added that it is quite easy for someone to start a war but not easy to bring it to an end.
He hoped that the Indian government would resolve the issue in a sane way, adding that India should come forward with a new approach.
PM Khan had also mentioned India’s upcoming elections in the context of calls for retaliation against Pakistan – saying politicians believed strong action would boost votes.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated following an attack on Indian forces in Indian-Administered Kashmir. The Pulwama attack claimed the lives of over 40 Indian paramilitary troops.
India has claimed that Pakistan is responsible for the attack, however, Pakistan has denied this and offered its assistance to find the true culprits.
More than 40 members of India’s security forces died in Thursday’s suicide bombing on their convoy in the Occupied Kashmir.
