While top government officials, including Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, have warned that Pakistan would inflict “heavy losses” if India continued with its firing and shelling across the Working Boundary, Pakistan’s high commissioner has termed Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s assertion that the two sides should hold terror-specific talks “inconsistent with what was agreed to in Ufa”.
While visiting the border village Kundanpur along the Sialkot WB, the defence minister said that armed forces and the nation will “defend every inch of their motherland at any cost,” and if India imposed war on Pakista, “we would inflict heavy losses” that India’s coming generations would “remember for centuries.
The minister said that cowardly acts by the Indian forces had strengthened the determination of the nation to defend its motherland.
Asif further said that India’s real face had been exposed in supporting terrorism and trying to divert attention from its internal failures by creating tension on the borders.
The federal minister distributed the financial compensation cheques of Rs.0.5 million among families of all eight victims of Indian’s firing and shelling across the working boundary. He said that financial compensation cheques of Rs 75,000 each had also been handed over to everyone seriously injured.
Meanwhile, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani while visiting those injured in the cross-border firing in the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), criticised India’s hypocrisy in trying diverting attention from the failures of its domestic policy and by resorting to unprovoked firing to create unrest on the border with Pakistan.
The Senate chairman also regretted the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC)’s failure to take notice of the “deaths of so many innocent civilians by the unprovoked Indian firing and mortar shelling across the working boundary and Line of Control (LoC).”
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator also urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take steps for the protection of villages situated along the working boundary on permanent basis. He also said that the Modi government did not respond to the positive efforts of Pakistan for resolving the outstanding issues through dialogue.
On the diplomatic front, Pakistan’s HC Abdul Basit said in an interview broadcasted by the Rajya Sabha TV that the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers had agreed in Ufa that NSAs’ meeting in New Delhi would include discussion on how the two sides would engage on other issues as well included Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek.
Reminded of Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s assertion that the two sides could later discuss all other issues once their trust was established at the terror-specific NSA talks, he said, “This position of India’s is inconsistent with what was agreed to in Ufa,” adding that a number of things that are not reflected in the joint statement were discussed between the prime ministers.
“For example, it was agreed that the two countries would discuss future modalities on how to take the dialogue process forward on Jammu and Kashmir and other important issues.”
Pakistan’s envoy said, “I do not know why India went back to its original position that unless there is terrorism (exclusively), we cannot have discussion on other issues. Our side believes this was inconsistent and incompatible with what was discussed in Ufa.”
