War shadow still hangs over India, Pakistan: Imran Khan
Khan was quoted by media as saying that India is in the grip of “war hysteria” following last month’s tensions that had brought the two nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of a major confrontation.
The comments rule out the possibility of resumption of engagement between the two hostile neighbours in the immediate run.
Tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi following Indian air strikes against a Jaish-e-Muhammed terror camp at Balakot inside Pakistan may appear to have de-escalated, but Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan remains fearful of fresh military hostilities between the two neighbours.
Khan was quoted by media as saying that India is in the grip of “war hysteria” following last month’s tensions that had brought the two nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of a major confrontation.
“I’m still apprehensive, before the elections I feel that something could happen,” Khan told Financial Times in an interview in his office in Islamabad. The comments rule out the possibility of resumption of engagement between the two hostile neighbours in the immediate run.
Khan said shadows of war were still hovering over the two countries, alleging that his Indian counterpart — Prime Minister Narendra Modi — could go for “another misadventure” against Pakistan before the parliamentary elections begin in India.
Imran denied that Pakistan had any links with Jaish, the terror group that killed 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama last month. According to FT, the Pak PM cast Modi as the aggressor for launching a missile strike subsequent to the suicide bombing that brought the two countries close to war.
“When the Pulwama incident happened, I felt that Mr Modi’s government used that to build this war hysteria,” Khan said. “The Indian public should realise that this is all for winning the elections, it’s nothing to do with the real issues of the subcontinent,” said Khan, blaming the Pulwama attack on what he called Modi’s “anti-Muslim” government and its “heavy-handed policies” in Kashmir.
“There’s Jaish-e-Muhammed in India, the boy who blew himself up, the 19-year-old boy, was a Kashmiri Indian boy,” Imran said. “His parents said he was radicalised by some abuse by the security forces. So it was an Indian boy, Indian operation, Indian car, Indian explosive. Why was Pakistan blamed?”
But Khan acknowledged that Pakistan could no longer allow terror groups to operate with impunity on its soil. “We cannot take the stance anymore where you have these armed groups in our country,” he said. “We can’t afford being blamed for any terrorist activity like Pulwama.”
Speaking to local journalists a day earlier, Khan had ruled out hope for improvement in relations with India at least until the upcoming general elections.
“Pakistan needs to be fully alert as threat by India is possible until their elections. The nation must not let its guard down,” he said.
