Appealed for Peace; Assured retaliatory action if pushed; Announced release of captured Indian pilot
Chandigarh, 28th Feb (Ravijot Kaur): The premier of Pakistan, Imran Khan today addressed the joint session of Pakistan Parliament. He termed the upcoming elections as the reason of a not so good response from Indian side. He said, that Kartarpur was an effort towards peace and to open a dialogue between the two nations. But still, the statements coming from India were not positive, with claims of the possibility of closure of the proposed corridor project.
Pakistan government attributed this to the upcoming elections, and decided to wait for the elections to happen. But Pak Government feared the occurrence of some event which the current Indian Government would exploit for its gain. Pak did not have a hand in Pulwama, as it would have been foolish on its part. It had a very important visit of the Saudi Arabia Crown Prince around the same time, who was supposed to make a huge investment in the fund hungry Pak economy.
An effort to plan such an event in its neighbouring territory would have sabotaged the visit. He said that Pak repeatedly asked for actionable evidence related to Pulwama attack, which has been handed over today in the form of a dossier, after violating UN charter and showing aggression by attacking Pakistan. Had India given the dossier earlier, and had Pakistan not acted upon it, then Indian action could have been justified.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
But it seemed the Indian Government was set to exploit the situation for the upcoming election. Pakistan acted only when India attacked, to send a message that if attacked, it would retaliate. But only after investigating the damage Indian Air Force had caused, it behaved responsibly and planned its retaliation so as to not cause any collateral damage to India. Applauded Pak media, as learning from the past experiences, did not indulge in was mongering.
The Pakistan media acted in a very responsible manner, owing to the last 15 years of internal terror. But Indian media created a war hysteria, which paved way for the aggression. PM Imran Khan also claimed that he tried to call his Indian counterpart PM Modi yesterday, but could not have a dialogue with him. He evoked the people of India, to ask where have the torturous tactics of last four years brought Kashmir.
He cited the example of a conclave he had attended in India, 20 years back, and recalled the then Kashmiri leaders standing in unity with the rest of India. He urged the people to think what has brought Kashmir and its youth at the edge today. He termed suicide bombing as a weapon of the weak and a sign of desperation, and not an Islamic concept, as Indian mainstream leaders and media is propagating.
Pulwama attack
The fact remains that war is not a solution to any problem, but still, it is a sad reality that Indian media and government has indulged in war mongering. Pakistan does not want war at all, but it will be forced to retaliate if attacked upon. Pakistan stands for peace and development. Pakistan’s effort to de-escalate the situation is not a sign of weakness. Here he chose the much-debated freedom fighter, Tipu Sultan, and hailed him as a hero.
He said that as Tipu Sultan chose death with dignity instead of slavery of the British. He said that Pakistan as a nation choses dignity, just like Tipu Sultan. It is notable, that Tipu Sultan has been a subject of much debate in India, with the Hindu fanatics denying to accept him as a freedom fighter. He claimed, that India had plans of attacking Pakistan with missiles last night, which were later diffused. He appealed the international community to take notice of the situation and push both nations to de-escalate and solve the issue through dialogue. In the end, he announced the release of the captured Indian pilot tomorrow, as a peace gesture.
