Army chief Gen Bajwa visits LoC: Army ready to stun India

RAWALPINDI: Reacting strongly to the Indian threats, the Pakistan Army on Friday said Pakistan will not initiate a war but its military response will be beyond the Indian expectations in case of any aggression or misadventure on the eastern borders.

Addressing a press conference here, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor refuted the reports that Pakistan was preparing for a war and said, "Pakistan is not preparing for war. Threats and reports of a war are coming from your side. We are only using our right to self-defence."

“We do not wish to go to war but please be rest assured should you initiate any aggression, first you shall never be able to surprise us. Pakistan’s armed forces shall never be surprised by you, but let me assure you, we will surprise you. We should also because you initiate; we shall also dominate the escalation ladder. We shall have superior force ratio at decisive point. Never think that due to our commitments elsewhere, we will have any capacity lack. We have singleness of conception, from the prime minister down to a citizen, from three chiefs down to a soldier. All political parties and all segments of life, 207 million Pakistanis, we have singleness of conception,” he warned.

“We can respond to a full spectrum threat. And I hope you get us and don’t mess with Pakistan," he asserted.

General Ghafoor explained, "On February 14, a Kashmiri youngster targeted the Indian security forces. After the incident, India starting bombarding Pakistan with allegations without any thought or proof. Pakistan took time to respond. We wanted to investigate the allegations and when we were sure-footed, the prime minister of Pakistan responded.

"The prime minister made an offer to India which has never been made before. The premier offered to probe if actionable evidence is shared. We hope India will wisely consider Pakistan's offer for peace."

He continued, "64% of our population is youth and we are in a fifth generation warfare, so their target is the youth of Pakistan. We have a 72-year history. In 1947, Pakistan obtained independence and this is something India has not been able to accept to-date.

"In 1965, tensions emerged at the LoC and our country which was progressing was affected. Then in 1971, our distance from East Pakistan was exploited, however, we were able to get through that as well because of our resilience.

"From 1971 to 1984, there were no incidents on our eastern border and we began progressing again. But then one day, the Siachen incident happened when the Pakistan Army wasn't there.”

"Then India moved towards nuclear weapons and in 1998 we obtained nuclear power. Then in 2008 we were fighting a decisive war against militants and emerging successful, so India started to mobilise its troops on the border," he added.

"Whenever the situation improves in Pakistan, India tries to destabilise the country," he asserted. "In February, when the Pulwama attack happened, there were eight important events happening in Pakistan — Saudi crown prince's visit, Afghan reconciliation process, UNSC talking about terror listing, EU deliberating on human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir, Kulbhushan Jadhav hearing, FATF hearing and decision on Pakistan, PSL and Kartarpur meeting. The elections are upcoming in India and the indigenous struggle in Occupied Kashmir is high."

“How would Pakistan benefit from the Pulwama attack in the light of these events? Pakistan would be at a loss,” General Ghafoor stressed.

"The attack took place miles away from the Line of Control (LoC) and the explosives used were not from Pakistan. The car used was not from Pakistan either. The attack was carried out by a youngster from Occupied Kashmir who was mistreated by the Indian security forces. People in the Indian media and social media had predicted an attack like this prior to the elections.”

Questioning whether Pakistan is in diplomatic isolation, he said, "You have seen how the heads and delegations of foreign countries are visiting."

“If Pakistan is isolated then why world leaders from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Turkey visited Pakistan, why foreign investment is increasing, how CPEC project is going on, joint exercises like Exercise Warrior-6 2019 between Pakistan and China and Pak-Russia exercise namely Druzhbe-III took place in Pakistan in October 2018? The Pakistan Air Force also participated separately in joint exercises with the air forces of China and the United States, whereas recently 40 countries took part in the Pak Navy’s Aman Exercise,” he said.

He said Pakistan was different today with a different thinking and the Pakistan Army was the only army in the world which had achieved successes against terrorism. He pointed out that Pakistan also played a role in the success of international forces present in Afghanistan against Al-Qaeda and was making efforts for peace in the region.

“There is patience, responsible state of Pakistan in changed thinking. We have learnt from mistakes and neither there is room for any more mistake nor we have any such intention,” he said.

Responding to a question about an Iranian military commander’s statement, General Ghafoor said, "These are two different contexts, you cannot compare India with Iran. With India we have a history of 70 years I just told you and Iran is a brotherly Muslim neighbour, with which we have a history of brotherly relations."

He said: "You know we have 2,611 km western border with Afghanistan and now we are fencing it. You know there are terrorists there. The arrangement there, be it of forces or the fence, is not for the Afghanistan forces or people, it is for the terrorists.

"Similarly, we share 909-km border with Iran. That border is also unmanned because we are friendly states and we do not have any threat from there, while on that side of the border, the security arrangements are not that exemplary as well. But when terrorists, who traverse from Afghanistan through Iran into Pakistan and vice versa, now we have quite an improved coordination among Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran so that we do not let our borders be freely used by terrorists.

"But because our focus was more on the Pak-Afghan border, so some terrorists are occasionally active on Pak-Iran border as well, but we have very good coordination with Iran in that regard. You remember the army chief also went there," Maj Gen Ghafoor said.

"We are discussing with Iran to fence the Pak-Iran border so that the border is not used by a third party to exploit against Iran or Pakistan." He maintained that Pakistan had cordial ties with Iran, which would improve further.

Answering a question about a statement of Pakistan’s ex-ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani alleging Pakistan having safe havens for terrorists, Gen Ghafoor said, "Please request him to come to Pakistan, go with me and indicate to me [those safe havens]."

Asked about the impact on Jadhav's mercy plea pending with the army chief in case of a verdict against Pakistan in the case, Maj Gen Ghafoor said, "That case is sub-judice and I do not want to comment on that. We went to the ICJ; we could have avoided it, but that is also an evidence of being a responsible state that you fulfill international obligations."

"Let the decision come and then we will talk about this," he added. He said through a friend, the army chief had also sent a message to India that it is the region and not a single country which develops.

He said if India was serious about peace and stability of the region, then it should stop sending likes of Kulbhushan to Pakistan. “We have fought against unknown enemy in the war against terror whereas India is our known enemy whose capability is also known to us,” he said.

He told the Indian leadership that two democratic countries should not fight a war, asking India that being the world’s biggest democracy, it should also keep norms of democracy. “Why minorities in India are attacked while you claim to be a secular state,” he said.

Reading out a message of the army chief, the DG ISPR said, “In case of any aggression, we shall defend our motherland at all costs, to the last bullet and to our last breath.” Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday.

During his visit, the COAS reviewed the state of preparedness and lauded the high morale of troops. “Pakistan is a peace-loving country but we will not be intimidated or coerced. Any aggression or misadventure shall be paid back in the same coin,” the COAS said during the visit.