Tensions with India defusing, threat of war remains: DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor has said that it is up to India to reciprocate Pakistan’s peace gestures or escalate tensions between the two nuclear powers.

“We feel that now the ball is in the Indian court. Should they decide to escalate, the situation will go bad,” he said in an interview with CNN.

DG ISPR said the two neighbouring countries were close to war after the ingress by Indian warplanes into Pakistan.

“It is up to India whether they take that peace gesture and move forward toward de-escalation or continue the agenda that they have,” he said while responding to a question with regard to the release of captured Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman as a peace gesture.

“There is presence of troops at the Line of Control (LoC) for decades. But post the Indian aggression and our response the safeguards have been taken by both sides,” DG ISPR said, adding that the military presence along the frontier had been scaled up as “it is natural as part of military planning when the station gets hot there are safeguards. Those safeguards are in place on both sides.”

Gen Ghafoor said not even a single brick had been found at the place where Indian warplane dropped their payload before being chased away by the Pakistan Air Force, let alone causalities.

“Their [Indian] claims are false and I believe lately there is an announcement on their side also that they cannot claim any casualty.”