Pakistan to retaliate, Imran Khan warns India

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically declared that Pakistan will retaliate with full force in case of any aggression by India over the Pulwama incident. Addressing the nation on the state media here on Tuesday, he said the Indian leadership must realize that it is easy to trigger a war but it would certainly be not in any one’s control to end it as per his desire.  He said they should also note that where such a provocation will take the two countries and the region.  The Prime Minister however hoped that better sense will prevail in India and they will come to the negotiating table to sort out the matter through dialogue.  Imran Khan questioned as to what law of the world grants a right to any person or country to act as a judge, jury and executioner in any such incident.  The Prime Minister also took serious exception of the ongoing rhetoric among the Indian leadership and society stressing for a military strike against Pakistan.  Imran Khan regretted that the Indian government started Pakistan bashing soon after the Pulwama incident without any investigation. He said as to how Pakistan can even think of engaging itself in any such unwarranted situation, when it was hosting Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad Bin Salman in Islamabad.  The Prime Minister said he wanted to respond to the Indian propaganda against Pakistan soon after the Pulwama incident but he could not do so due to his pre-occupation vis-a-vis all important visit of the Saudi Crown Prince and the Business Conference.  He said Indian leadership must keep in mind that now it is a new Pakistan with a new mindset and new leadership that believes in resolving all the chronic issues through dialogue.  He invited the Indian leadership to provide any actionable evidence about the Pulwama incident and Pakistan will take action as per its own laws.  The Prime Minister said we will do it not under any pressure but with a conviction that we will neither   allow anyone to use our land for terrorism nor allow anyone to commit terrorism against us.  He said Pakistan has sacrificed over seventy thousand lives and borne the brunt of one hundred billion dollars of losses in the war against terrorism.  Imran Khan said India always places precondition of holding talks with Pakistan with terrorism one of the subjects. He said we are ready to hold talks on this issue as Pakistan desires elimination of this menace from the region.  Prime Minister Imran Khan however said that in the meantime there should also be a new thinking and introspection in India about the Kashmir issue. The Indian leadership must understand as to why the Kashmiri youth have gone to the last resort of sacrificing their lives for the sake of their right to self determination.  He said there is no military solution to this issue like that of Afghanistan.  He said how India can think of resolving the Kashmir dispute through a one dimensional military approach which has always met failures.  He said Afghanistan is facing internal strife over the last seventeen years and the international coalition led by the US has not been able to resolve this conflict militarily.  The Prime Minister said the entire world is now acknowledging Pakistan’s viewpoint on Afghanistan that the solution to this festering conflict lies only in political settlement through negotiations.