The Pakistan Army on Monday said there was no space for a war with India as both are nuclear powers, but warned that its desire for peace should not be mistaken for weakness.
Major General Asif Ghafoor, the director general of Pakistan Army’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations, said India had carried out 1,077 ceasefire violations since the beginning of this year till date, reported PTI.
“Indians have to realise and understand where they want to go [in the future],” Dawn quoted him as saying during a press meet in Rawalpindi. “We are two nuclear powers and there is no space for war.”
He said Pakistan’s defence and desire for peace “should not be mistaken for weakness”. He further said that an agreement had been reached by the directors general of military operations of the two countries last week to improve the existing situation and ensure that their 2003 ceasefire agreement would not be violated, reported Dawn.
However, in the cross-border firing that happened on Sunday after the agreement, Ghafoor said Pakistan was compelled to respond when civilians were targeted. Two Border Security Force personnel were killed in the heavy firing and mortar shelling by Pakistani rangers.
“If India fires the first bullet and no harm is occurred, we will not respond,” Ghafoor said. “If India fires the second bullet, then we will give a befitting response,” he said, adding that Pakistan wants to respect the truce agreement.
Several people have been killed in alleged cross-border firing by Pakistan since January. At least 13 civilians sustained injuries on May 22 after Pakistani troops reportedly initiated firing and shelling along the International Border in Jammu.
On the formal court of inquiry ordered into the revelations made by the former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lieutenant General (retired) Asad Durrani in his book The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, Ghafoor said Durrani had not obtained a No Objection Certificate from the Pakistan army for the book. “Pakistan Army has never forgiven any mistake, whether made by a soldier or a general,” said Ghafoor. “What will happen to Durrani will be in front of you.”
Durrani co-authored the book with former Research and Analysis Wing chief Amarjit Singh Dulat and Indian journalist Aditya Sinha. The book is a series of discussions between the two former spy agency chiefs and Sinha on a range of topics, including the Kashmir matter.
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