Daily Times

Pakistan condemns in the strongest terms the irresponsible and provocative statement reportedly made by Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, threatening with so-called ‘surgical strikes’ in Pakistan, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Thursday. A statement issued by the MOFA termed the comments of the Indian minister as ‘delusional’, saying that such statements ‘only further demonstrate the inclination of BJP-RSS union to stir up regional tensions’. “This delusional statement only goes to further demonstrate the BJP-RSS combine’s propensity to stoke regional tensions for both ideological reasons and political expediency, based on enmity towards Pakistan,” said MOFA. It said that these statements serve as “smokescreens to divert world attention from India’s state-terrorism and systematic human rights violations in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and against Muslims and other minorities in India”.

The ministry went on to say that Pakistan, which is a “peace-loving country” has repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community to India’s “sinister designs of staging false flag” operations to implicate Pakistan and Kashmiris. The ministry reminded of Pakistan’s action in the 2019 India-Pakistan standoff, what it called “India’s Balakot misadventure”, saying that no effort will be spared on Pakistan’s end to “thwart any aggressive designs”. “Pakistan’s swift response to India’s Balakot misadventure in 2019, including the downing of Indian combat aircraft in Azad Kashmir and capture of Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthman, fully demonstrated the will, capacity and preparedness of our armed forces to deter Indian aggression,” the MOFA statement said.