ISLAMABAD: Joint Chief of Staff Committee (JCSC) Chairman General Zubair Mehmood Hayat on Tuesday said India was perpetrating terrorism in Pakistan through Taliban, Baloch separatists and its premier spy agency RAW [Research and Analysis Wing].
“By doing so, India is playing with fire and the peace of South Asia,” General Zubair said while addressing a two-day international conference on regional dynamics and strategic concerns in South Asia at a local hotel. The general added that RAW has allocated $500 million to carry out sabotage activities against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The JSCS chairman said political and strategic differences have been causing conflict in South Asia, and India was fostering the issue. He added India was doing so by, for instance, making claims such as those of surgical strike. Moreover, he said that India has become an extremist country from being a secular one, an example of which lied in the atrocities in held-Kashmir and attitude towards Pakistan. There is one soldier for 20 Kashmiris – 94,000 Kashmiris have been martyred while more than 7,700 have lost their eyesight, he added.
“The path to better relations with India passes through Kashmir, there is no bypass,” he said, adding that India had so far martyred 1,000 Pakistani citizens and 300 soldiers. He said India has violated the ceasefire more than 1,200 times, thereby, continuing its years-old war against Pakistan. “These moves of India can result in a major war at any time,” Gen Zubair said.
While speaking about Afghanistan, the top army general said the country is a gateway to Asia, which is why instability there is perilous for the entire region. However, he added, factors such as those of weak governance and flawed reconciliation process are some of the causes of instability in Afghanistan.
Moreover, the general said that terrorist havens in Afghanistan were also a matter of concern to Pakistan. “Pakistan is paying a high price for instability in Afghanistan,” he added.
“Nevertheless, Pakistan wishes for lasting peace in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that in view of the circumstances, Pakistan will keep minimum nuclear deterrence.
Earlier, while giving the opening speech, Pakistan’s former high commissioner to India, Abdul Basit said Pakistan is determined to restore peace in Afghanistan, but both the countries should bolster the process.
Basit said that peace in the region is not possible unless the Kashmir issue is resolved.