A 2018 photo shows Indian forces and Kashmiri protestors Credit: Screenshot/VOA video
Prime Minister Imran Khan posed a raft of questions to India in the wake of New Delhi’s saber-rattling over allegations that Pakistan was behind Pulwama attack while also offering Islamabad’s help in a probe.
At the same time, Khan warned India against militaristic thinking that Indian PM Narendra Modi is espousing in the election year, saying Pakistan would not think, but immediately retaliate against any misadventure.
He said India should hold discussions with Pakistan on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute that war could never resolve the outstanding issue.
“Why would Pakistan do such a thing at this moment in time when the country is achieving stability, having a high-profile visit (during which Saudi Crown Prince $ 20 billion investment).
“Only someone crazy would think of going that (self-harming) way,” Khan said in televised remarks on the attack which killed more than 40 Indian security personnel last week.
India wasted no time and Modi, who is seeking to secure political support in the run up to the election, immediately blamed Pakistan. Since then, BJP officials and parts of the Indian media have gone into an overdrive to beat war drums and calls for action against militants in Pakistan.
In the aftermath of the attack in Jammu, Kashmiri students and people have been subjected to a terror campaign by Indian extremist groups aligned with PM Modi’s BJP party. Images of burnt vehicles and fires have gone viral as India faces condemnation from human rights defenders for its failure to protect Kashmiris.
Indian media also made a mockery of itself when it reported a militant belonging to Jaish e Mohammad, who was killed in a Pakistani security operation a decade ago, was planned the Pulwama attack.
In his remarks, PM Khan, who has led a successful international diplomacy to secure economic support for Pakistan, offered the Indian government to fully cooperate in any kind of investigation it wanted into the Pulwama incident.
Khan sought tangible, credible and intelligence-based evidence from India and vowed a Pakistani action on it.
A Kashmir map Credit: CIA via Wikimedia Commons
He asked India to look into its repression of the Kashmiri people and reasons behind the unrest in the UN-recognized disputed territory, instead of pointing a finger at Pakistan.
Imran Khan said “no law in the world allows anyone or a country to be the “judge, jury and executioner” and said if India offered any proof, Pakistan would cooperate.
“We all know that it is easy to start a war, but very difficult to end. And we do not know where it will lead to.”
Pakistan, he reminded, itself had been the worst victim of curse of terrorism in the last fifteen years and reiterated his government’s commitment to combat terrorism.
The Prime Minister advised the Indian leadership to break the shackles of its past mantra and refrain from targeting Pakistan for every incident in the Occupied Kashmir.
He said India should instead come forward to resolve the Kashmir issue though dialogue.
“We are ready to talk to you,” he added.
He said a new government has been functioning in Pakistan with new thoughts and vision in the “Naya Pakistan”.
He said it is in Pakistan’s interest, not to allow anyone to use its soil against anyone nor allow someone to carry out such activities on its soil from the outside.
“If someone is doing it, he is doing enmity with Pakistan. If someone is using our soil, it is enmity with us. It is against our interests,” he added while ruling out any outside pressure.
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