Willing to talk, probe or war

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan assured India of action if actionable evidence of Pulwama attack is shared with Pakistan.

Responding to India on the state-turn PTV on the Pulwama incident on Tuesday, he offered cooperation in investigation into the attack if any Pakistani was involved. “I give guarantees that action will be taken if actionable evidence is shared. Not because of pressure from any side, but for the fact that it is in the interest of Pakistan,” he made it clear.

He said if any Pakistani was involved and he was using the Pakistani soil, then he is the country’s enemy, ‘as this was against our interests’. However, Imran said there were voices being raised in India and politicians there were also saying that Pakistan should be taught a lesson and revenge be taken and that there should be strikes inside Pakistan.

“First of all, which law anywhere in the world allows any person or a country to become a judge, jury and executioner? What kind of justice is this? Indeed it is your election year and you think by teaching Pakistan a lesson, there will be an election boost for you.

But if you think that you will mount an attack on Pakistan, then Pakistan will not just think about retaliating, we will retaliate. There will be no way to respond other than to retaliate,” he warned.

“It might be easy to start a war, being in the hands of human beings, but to end a war is not in my hands. And, where then this war leads to, only Allah Almighty knows,” he said. However, he expressed the hope that better sense would prevail.

Imran noted that he wanted to respond to the attack right away because New Delhi had accused Pakistan of having a hand in the attack, "but we had a very important visit from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia; we had an investment conference happening that we had been preparing for a long time," he explained.

Imran continued, "Therefore, I decided not to respond at that time, because the attention would have been diverted away from the visit and towards this issue. This is why I am responding now that the crown prince has left. And this (message) is for the Indian government".

"First of all, you accused Pakistan. There was no evidence. You never thought what would be in it for Pakistan. Would even a fool do such a thing to sabotage his own conference? And even if he [the crown prince] had not been visiting, what benefit would Pakistan get from it (the Pulwama attack)?"

He wondered, “Why would Pakistan, at this stage, when it is moving towards stability. We have fought a war against terrorism for 15 years; 70,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives, terrorism is receding, and peace and stability are returning.

What benefit would we get from it (the Pulwama attack)?" "You wish to remain stuck in the past, and each time something happens in Kashmir,you want to hold Pakistan responsible for it. Instead of trying to resolve the Kashmir issue through military, start a dialogue or move forward. You want to make Islamabad your whipping boy again and again,” the prime minister said, addressing the Indian government.

“I am telling you clearly, this is Naya Pakistan. It is a new mindset, a new way of thinking. We believe it is in our interest that our soil is not used for carrying out terrorist attacks in other countries, nor do we want outsiders to come and carry out terror attacks here. We desire stability,” he asserted.

“If someone is using Pakistan’s soil to carry out terror attacks elsewhere, it is like having enmity with us. It is against our interests. Whenever Pakistan tries to initiate dialogue with India, New Delhi’s precondition is that terrorism must be talked about. “We are ready to talk about terrorism. Terrorism is a regional issue ... we want terrorism in the region to end,” he noted.

The prime minister said Pakistan had been worst affected by terrorism, having lost 70000 lives and suffered over $100 billion losses. Therefore, we are ready to talk with India.

Imran emphasised there needed to be a new way of thinking in India, some introspection: what was the reason these Kashmiri youths have gotten to the point where they have no fear of death anymore? There must be some reason.

“Do you think that this one-dimensional oppression, cruelty, using military to cause issues - if they haven’t been successful till today, do you think they will be successful in future?” the prime minister asked, referring to the oppressive tactics used by the Indian government to suppress the local population in the Indian Held Kashmir.

Imran pointed out, “If today in Afghanistan after 17 years, the entire world has accepted that there is no military solution and that the issue can only be resolved through dialogue, shouldn’t there be discussion about this in India”.He contended, “This issue will only be resolved through dialogue and talks”.