Pakistan warns India not to ‘underestimate’ its military

Completely rejecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s irresponsible and war-mongering remarks, Pakistan on Wednesday said that no one should underestimate the resolve of the people and the armed forces of Pakistan to effectively thwart any aggressive action. “These remarks are another reflection of India’s incurable obsession with Pakistan and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and leadership’s desperate attempts to divert attention from growing domestic and international criticism of their discriminatory, anti-Kashmir and anti-minority policies,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said in a statement. “Pakistan’s immediate and effective response to India’s Balakot misadventure, including the downing of Indian fighter aircraft and capture of Indian pilot last year, should suffice to underscore the will, capacity and preparedness of our armed forces,” she said. “The Indian prime minister’s threats and provocative statements further illustrate the extremist mindset that pervades the BJP leadership and has evidently permeated the state institutions in India,” the spokesperson said. “We urge the international community to take cognizance of the Indian leadership’s continuing belligerent rhetoric and aggressive measures, which pose a threat to regional peace and security”, the spokesperson said. “We hope steps would be taken to facilitate peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute for durable peace and stability in South Asia,” she maintained. The FO was referring to claims made by Modi during a speech to military personnel on Tuesday in Delhi, where he said Indian forces were now capable of making Pakistan ‘bite the dust’ in less than 10 days. “Our armed forces will not take more than seven to 10 days to make Pakistan bite the dust,” Modi had declared. Modi had said India’s new prowess was a consequence of what he termed as ‘youthful thinking’. Evidence for this prowess, he claimed, could be gathered from India’s strikes in Azad Jammu and Kashmir last year and in 2016. Earlier this month, the new Indian army chief, Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane, had also threatened to ‘take control of’ Azad Jammu and Kashmir should India’s government and parliament give such an order. India’s belligerent posturing has spiked since its bitter military misadventure in Pakistan last February when its warplanes made an abortive attempt to carry out a clandestine mission in Pakistan. They fled in haste after Pakistani fighter jets intercepted them – but before fleeing they dropped their payloads at an unfrequented mountainous region in Balakot district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Later, New Delhi projected it as a ‘surgical strike’ on a terror camp – a claim that was shredded to pieces by Pakistan which took international media on a tour of the impact site to unmask India. However, the next day Pakistani fighter jets gave India a bitter reprisal when they locked military targets deep inside IHK and fired munitions at a distance to give New Delhi a message what Pakistan can do. The broad daylight airstrike triggered an aerial battle between the two countries in which two Indian warplanes were shot down. The pilot of one of the downed jets was captured in further embarrassment to India – only to be released as a goodwill gesture. Modi is under pressure after weeks of ongoing protests against a new citizenship law, a slowing economy and the prospect of losing the latest in a string of state elections in New Delhi next month. Modi’s BJP party has always raised the bogey of war with Pakistan to sell to its rightwing voters in elections. Prime Minister Imran Khan has repeatedly spotlighted India’s provocative statements. He has said that Pakistan does not want a war with India, but at the same time, it cannot remain oblivious to the challenges posed to its security and integrity. “We are prepared to give the enemy the fullest possible response. Failing, the world community will be responsible for the catastrophic aftermath,” he had warned earlier. In a separate statement on Wednesday, Pakistan renewed its call for the establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine, on the basis of internationally-agreed parameters, the pre-1967 borders, and with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. “We have seen the announcement of a Peace Plan for the Middle East by the United States,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said in a statement. “Pakistan has consistently supported a two-state solution, as enshrined in the relevant Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions,” she maintained. “Pakistan continues to support a just and lasting solution of the Palestinian issue, through dialogue and negotiations, that leads to the realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, including the right of self-determination,” the spokesperson asserted.