Pakistani forces not worried about threat from India, says air chief

PakistanToday

8 years ago

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman on Thursday said Pakistan’s armed forces were not worried about India.

“We are not worried about India at all,” Sohail Aman said while speaking at the 9th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS). “India should show restraint and instead solve the issue of Kashmir as that would be better for them,” he added.

Aman called on India to resolve the Kashmir issue, saying: “They should speak on matters of principle and our ties will improve.”

Aman further said that Pakistan does not war but can ignore this kind of pressure [from the enemy]. “We are well capable of responding in the face of any aggression,” he upheld.

Sohail Aman went on to add that Pakistan had readied all of its [battle] plans following threats from India after the militant attack in Uri sector. The Air chief also said that Pakistan, engaged in Operation Zarb-e-Azab has a battle hardened military to respond to threats.

The air chief’s statement comes a day after Pakistan and India exchanged threats as tensions between the two neighbours flared in the aftermath of deadly clashes on the LoC. The clashes left 13 people, including three troops dead on the Pakistani side.

Also on Wednesday, Indian troops shelled civilian populations almost all along the LoC in Azad Jammu and Kashmir after a daylong lull and hit a passenger bus, leaving 10 civilians dead and 21 others injured.

These were the heaviest civilian killings in a single day over the past 13 years since India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire agreement in November 2003.