ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday assured India of action if New Delhi shared actionable evidence of
In a video message, Khan while reacting to India’s blame over Pakistan for Pulwama attack, said he had decided not to respond to India’s statements on the attack to avoid drawing attention away from the Saudi crown prince’s visit yesterday.
“Why would anyone do such a thing to sabotage their own conference?” the report quoted Khan as having said.
“Today, I would like to make the Indian government an offer. Any sort of investigation you wish carried out regarding this incident about the involvement of any Pakistani, we are ready. If you have any actionable intelligence that a Pakistani is involved. Give it to us. I guarantee you we will take action ─ not because we are under pressure, but because they are acting as enemies of Pakistan.”
“If someone is using Pakistan’s soil [to carry out terror attacks elsewhere], it is enmity with us. It is against our interests.”
The prime minister added that whenever Pakistan tries to initiate dialogue with India, Delhi’s precondition is that terrorism must be talked about.
“We are ready to talk about terrorism. Terrorism is a regional issue […] we want terrorism in the region to end,” he stated. “Pakistan has been the worst affected by terrorism […] Therefore, we are ready to talk with you.”
“In India there needs to be a new way of thinking, some introspection, that what is the reason these Kashmiri youths have gotten to the point where they have no fear of death anymore? There must be some reason,” he said.
“Do you think that this one-dimensional oppression, cruelty, using military to cause issues ─ if they haven’t been successful till today, do you think they will be successful in the future?”Khan asked.
“If today in Afghanistan, after 17 years, the entire world has accepted that there is no military solution and that the issue can only be resolved through dialogue, shouldn’t there be discussion about this in India?” he asked.
“We are hearing voices in India that ‘Pakistan must be taught a lesson’, ‘Revenge must be taken from Pakistan’, ‘There should be a strike’ ─ First of all, what law gives any country to become judge, jury and executioner?” he asked. “What sort of justice is this?”
“Secondly, you are facing an election year. And we believe that during the election, [you think] you will get a big boost if you ‘teach Pakistan a lesson’,” he said.
“If you think that if you can carry out any kind of attack on Pakistan, Pakistan will not just think about retaliating, we will retaliate. There will be no way to respond other than to retaliate,” the prime minister said.
“And after that, where does the matter go? We all know that starting a war is easy. Starting it is in people’s hands, but ending it is not in ours hands. Where it will go, God knows best. That’s why I hope that better sense will prevail.”
“This issue will only be resolved through dialogue and talks,” he concluded.