Pakistan will pay India in its own coin in case of any misadventure: Defence Minister

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will pay India in its own coin in case of any misadventure, and will robustly defend every inch of its soil, said Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir.

In a statement on the security policy in the Senate, the federal minister said any Indian aggression, strategic miscalculation, or misadventure regardless of its scale, mode, or location will not go unpunished and shall be met with an equal and proportionate response.

He said instead of blaming Pakistan without substantial evidence, India must answer for state-sponsored espionage against Pakistan. He said living evidence of Kulbushan Yadav is in front of the world.

Dastgir said the arrest of Indian spy Kulbushan Jadav indicates New Delhi’s designs to use a third country for espionage against Pakistan. He said India has failed to deliver justice to the 42 Pakistanis murdered in Samjhota Express terrorism eleven years ago.

He said deployment of Cold Start doctrine against Pakistan, lethal violations on Line of Control and human rights abuses in held Kashmir are compounded by India’s jingoism. He said that the hostile stance taken by India has reduced any advocacy of peace in the region.

He further said India has been involved in massive ceasefire violations along the Line of Control, and during last year committed over 1800 ceasefire violations resulting in 52 deaths.

Pakistan-US recrimination will not benefit anyone 

Turning to United States failure in Afghanistan, the minister said Washington is not winning war in Afghanistan, despite spending billions of dollars and losing thousands of American lives, and Pakistan should not be made a scapegoat for this failure.

He said Pakistan has suffered losses of billions of dollars and rendered immense sacrifices of human lives in the war against terrorism. The minister said that the way forward in Pakistan-US relations is not through threats, issuing notices, and suspension of support as mutual recrimination will not benefit anyone.

Commenting on relations with Afghanistan, the minister said Pakistan sees Afghanistan as a sovereign neighbor and share historical bonds of culture, trade and religion. He said that Pakistan wants a peaceful, stable, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan.

The minister further said that Pakistan and China share the aim of internal reconciliation in Afghanistan, steadying Pak-India relationships, and stable security situation within Pakistan.