Pak forces to respond with full force in case of any surgical strikes: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD: Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif Monday reiterated that Pakistan armed forces would respond with full force if India tries to carry out any surgical strikes inside Pakistan.

Winding up debate on a motion  regarding situation arising out of continuing Indian violations of Line of Control (LoC) and ceasefire on Working Boundary (WB), the minister said If India dares to carry out surgical strike inside Pakistan, it will forget to conduct even fake and false strike .

He said India had also claimed to carry out surgical strikes in recent past but this claim was baseless and false.

He said Kashmir's indigenous freedom struggle, India's internal political compulsion and unwillingness to dialogue were three major reasons behind Indian unprovoked firing along LoC and WB.

Khawja Asif said India was making failed attempts to link Kashmir's indigenous freedom movement with cross border infiltration and terrorism.

Khawja Asif said India was also afraid of Pakistan's success in fight against terrorism.

He said Pakistan's success had been recognized by the international community, adding that country's armed forces have successfully rooted out terrorists and their all safe sanctuaries in north Waziristan.

He said India carried out 330 ceasefire violations till December last year.

The minister said 45 civilians were killed and 138 injured in these violations.

He said the frequency of the violations had been reduced after December.

However, the minister, said the violations were effectively responded by Pakistan's armed forces.

"These violations were also reported to United Nations Military Observer Group (UNMOG) and appraised the UN for investigations," the defence minister told the house.

He said the ministry of foreign affairs also raised the issue at the diplomatic and bilateral levels. .