Pakistan Will Retaliate If India Attacks Says PM Imran Khan
NEW DELHI : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday denied his country’s involvement in the terrorist attack that left 40 CRPF jawans dead. He even asked India to introspect and stop pointing fingers on Pakistan. Imran Khan said India had been targeting Pakistan without a shred of evidence.
He also asked why Pakistan would attack India at a time when it was going forward on the path of development.This is Imran Khan’s first statement on the Pulwama attack, the worst-ever terror strike on security forces in Kashmir.
Denying any role in the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan today said Pakistan will retaliate if India attacks.
“All this ‘attack Pakistan’ talk is all keeping elections in mind. But if at all these are serious, please make note of one thing clearly – Pakistan will not think of retaliating, it will retaliate,” he said.”There will be no other option left with Pakistan,” he added in a video message.
In a direct reference to PM Modi’s remarks that “time for a dialogue has ended”, and that it was time for action, Imran Khan said: “If you think you will attack us and we will not think of retaliating, we will retaliate.””Pakistan ko isse kya faayda hai? Kyu Pakistan karega iss stage ke upar jab Pakistan stability ki taraf ja raha hai?,” he said, during his first press conference after Pulwama terrorist attack.
The Pakistan PM said: “It is in our interest that nobody from our soil spreads violence. I want to tell Indian govt that we will take action if evidence is found against anyone from Pakistan.” The Pakistan PM, however, did not say anything on Pakistan-based internationally recognised terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad, which has claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad was behind the attack and a 19-year-old school dropout who joined the outfit last year was the bomber who targeted a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on February 14. The Jaish-e-Mohammad is believed to have strong support from the Pakistani army and Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI. After the Pulwama terror attack, India urged the United Nations to brand Pakistan-based Jaish chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist. The government has also launched diplomatic moves to work towards Pakistan’s isolation.
One of the first steps that New Delhi took was to withdraw Most Favored Nation (MFN) status for Pakistan. India had granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996; it never reciprocated. Imran Khan said: “Pakistan is moving towards stability. Why would we do something like this? If there is any actionable intelligence, I assure you, Pakistan will take action on priority.” But New Delhi has repeatedly furnished dossiers detailing terrorists behind attacks in India and evidence against them, without any action from Pakistan. Terrorists like Masood Azhar and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed roam freely in Pakistan and even address anti-India rallies with impunity.(With Agency Inputs ).
