Indian army chief shouldn’t behave as BJP secretary: Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Saturday that India Chief of Army Staff (COAS) should know that he is an army chief not a BJP secretary general.

The information minister reacted on the provocative statement by the India COAS calling for a surprise action by the Indian security forces a day after New Delhi cancelled a meeting between foreign ministers of the two countries.

Fawad said that General Rawat is highlighting himself as a tool of a political party. He said that while Pakistan is calling for peace between both sides whereas the Indian army chief is resorting to warmongering. “The whole world is watching who wants peace. Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed countries therefore there is no possibility of war. We reject war mongering by ruling elite of India everyone know Indian government strategy is to use hate mongering against Pak basically to bail PM Modi from call for resignation post French jets Rafael deal and divert attention of Indian public from this mega corruption scandal,” he added. The information minister in a tweet said the Indian government is using its strategy to use hate-mongering against Pakistan to bail Prime Minister Modi from call for resignation post a graft scandal.

Meanwhile, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Saturday said India showed negative approach by cancelling the scheduled meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan.

In an interview with a private television, he said Pakistan extended the hand for negotiations but India withdrew its hand which exposed face of India at the international level and highlighted the positive image of Pakistan. The world was watching and the internal differences of India had come into the open, he said adding, “The world is saying that Pakistan is extending the hand of peace while India is rejecting it.” “We will live in peace and we will say to those in India who favour peace that they should look at the role of their government and condemn its thinking.” He said today Pakistan was standing on the right side of history and it was ready to open the border at Kartarpura. The minister pointed out that on the matter of Kartarpura border, debate had started between Indian Punjab and New Delhi.

He said India had a complaint that the army and the civilian government of Pakistan had different policies but our government and army had the same thinking. “We extended our hand for peace and it was the opportunity to take forward the peace talks.”

He said before taking oath, Prime Minister Imran Khan in his first speech said that if “they will take one step forward. We will move two steps forward.”

He said there were two sections in India and Pakistan. One section in both the countries wanted normal relations but another section did not support it. He was of the view that it was job of the leadership as to which sections it wanted to strengthen and which sections it would ignore. He said, “We have been fighting for the last seventy years. Millions of people sacrificed their lives for the dignity of Pakistani flag. For us, nothing is ahead of respect and honour of our country.” The minister said Imran Khan talked to Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries at state level while Nawaz Sharif had connection with billionaires like Jindal. “When you hold your personal interest above the national interest then it creates problems.”

He said thinking of Pakistan army was based on peace and amity. Fawad said CPEC was a project of communication and setting up of special economic zones. Industries would be set up and millions of people would get jobs. Meanwhile, Vice President Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and Senator Sherry Rehman on Saturday termed the refusal of Indian government of talks with Pakistan and threats of Indian army chief to Pakistan as immature and irresponsible.

"The Indian government and Indian Army Chief response is both immature and irresponsible as they have crossed all diplomatic norms and protocols to emerge as a belligerent nuclear power that is only looking to externalise its own extremists," she said while talking to The News when sought her response on refusal of Indian government for talks with Pakistan and Indian army chief threats to Islamabad.

Sherry Rehman said, "Running from talks would not change the fact that this time Indian repression in Kashmir has been noticed in a UN Report.”

Sherry Rehman, while earlier tweets on the social media network Twitter said, "So Modi government suddenly found Pakistan government "evil" over a stamp issued on July 24 and a Kashmir killing ruse, weak diversion from domestic crisis and anxiety over earlier UN report and session where New Delhi may have to defend Kashmir atrocities.” She said but at the same time the government should have done its homework before approaching India for a meeting especially after the initial response. Meanwhile, ex-chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani on Saturday called the government to take the notice of the statement of Indian army chief and to hold a debate in the Parliament for formulating a national and consensus strategy to deal with Indian threats.

"The statement of the Indian Army Chief has exposed the real intents of India of regional supremacy that proved that India was dancing on the tunes of the imperialistic thinking," he said while talking to The News while reacting on the Indian army chief statement and threats to Pakistan. Rabbani said Pakistan will never accept Indian aims to maintain its hegemony.

He demanded of the government to take a strong notice of the Indian army chief and take up this issue to Parliament so that a consensus policy and strategy be evolved to deal with Indian designs against Pakistan.