KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday stated that India must reciprocate to the dialogue offer by Prime Minister Imran Khan and should de-escalate the situation before it’s too late.
Urging India to go for peace, Bhutto wrote on his Twitter handle: “It is the youth of the subcontinent who will pay in blood and coin for generations to come for the shortsighted decisions of a few today. Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s call for dialogue must be reciprocated, time to deescalate before it’s too late.”
It is the youth of the subcontinent who will pay in blood and coin for generations to come for the shortsighted decisions of a few today. Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s call for dialogue must be reciprocated, time to deescalate before it’s too late.
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) February 28, 2019
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that Pakistan has offered to hold peace talks with India previously and is still willing to do so as “terrorism is not in Pakistan’s interests”.
While addressing the nation following the shooting down of two Indian aircraft by Pakistan Air Force, the premier started his address saying, “I wanted to take you into confidence regarding the situation arising since yesterday.”
“After the Pulwama incident, we offered India to cooperate in the probe. We know they have suffered casualties,” he said.
“Pakistan has suffered casualties in the past so we offered to cooperate with India. Because terrorism is not in Pakistan’s interests,” PM Imran added.
“We had said that Pakistan would be forced to respond if India carried out aggression.”
“We didn’t take action yesterday morning because we didn’t know the full extent of the damage. Otherwise, it would have been irresponsible. That’s why we waited,” he explained.
PM Imran further said, “Our plan from the start has been no casualties for India. The purpose was just to show India that if they can enter our space, we can too.”
“The problem is, where do we go from here? It is crucial that India acts sensibly in this situation,” he asserted.
“My question to the Indian government is that with the weapons you and we have can we afford a miscalculation? If it escalates from here where will it go? It won’t be in Modi’s or my control. I once again invite you to dialogue. Let me say again that better sense should prevail. We should resolve our problems through dialogue,” he asserted.
