Pakistan acting responsibly despite Indian provocations

Lt-Gen Asim Bajwa talks to Geo News

KARACHI: Pakistan is acting responsibly despite provocations by India, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said on Thursday.

In a 12-minute talk over the phone with Geo News, the DG ISPR spoke on the cross border firing early Thursday which martyred two Pakistan Army soldiers. “The Indian Army opened fire at different sectors in Pakistan at 2:00am. The firing continued till 6:30am,” he said.

Denying Indian claims of a surgical strike on Pakistan, he said, “There was only one incident last night.” He said DGMOs of both countries talked over the phone where the Indian counterpart said that they had witnessed movement at the border which they interpreted as possible infiltration. “But when we checked on the ground we found nothing of the sort.” He said that it was unfortunate that the two DGMOs were talking to each other over the hotline, but at the same time the Indian Army was violating the borders.

The DG ISPR said that  India had violated the Line of Control and the ceasefire agreement. He dismissed the Indian media claims that two Indian paratroopers had entered Pakistan. “How is it possible?” he said, “An Indian official (DGMO) held a press conference today where he made no mention of the incident. This is all a media gimmick.”

Speaking about a telephonic conversation between the prime minister and the army chief after the LoC attack, he said it was a routine procedure followed every time tension at the border escalated. He added that the martyrdom of the two Pakistan Army soldiers would not go in vain.

Lt Gen Bajwa said that the Pakistan Army was conducting military exercises with Russia. “The world wants to learn from our experiences of fighting the war on terror.”

Over a question about a statement by the US today calling for Pakistan to take action against organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish, he said, “This just goes on to show that the world powers do not want nuclear power states to fight.” He said the Indian allegations over Pakistan’s involvement in the Uri attackwere fabricated. “India has installed an anti-filtration grid at its side of the LoC which is three to four kilometer deep. There is also a three layer fence which would electrocute even a bird which flies past it. Apart from this they have check posts and troops on patrol. Are they trying to say all of these measures failed and infiltration occurred from across the border?”

Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa besides dismissing Indian claims of surgical strike, had also rejected its claim that the suspected militants were preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan into occupied Kashmir. General Bajwa said, “It does not make any sense, there were preparations for infiltration. There is already escalation at the Line of Control (LoC) then why someone will try to infiltrate. We strongly deny such Indian claims.”

He said India violated ceasefire at LoC and later it fabricated this story, adding, “It is something which does not even exist”. The DG ISPR said Indian claims of infiltration should be exposed because, “India has established an anti-infiltration grid at the depth of 3-4 kilometers on the other side of LoC and has deployed state-of-the-art technology and have effective system of fences comprising three layers, which are electrified. Even a bird can be electrocuted if it touches these wires.”

Beyond these layers, India had their check-posts, patrols, ground sensors, he added. In spite of this mechanism, if India claimed there was infiltration, there was a need to look into it as to why they were telling a lie, Bajwa said.