Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday told a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) parliamentary party that tensions with India had eased, but the threat of war remained.
“It was because of timely and correct decisions that war was averted,” Prime Minister Imran said as he lauded the armed forces for effectively thwarting India’s designs.
During the meeting, the PTI parliamentary party approved the Finance Amendment Bill 2018-19.
Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Imran said the decision to act against banned organisations was not made under any pressure and was an internal matter of the country. He added that a clear message had been sent to the international community that Pakistan would act in its self-interest.
Earlier, in an interview to CNN, Pakistan’s chief military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said the ball is now in India’s court following Pakistan’s peace gesture of releasing Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot and warned the situation will “go bad” if New Delhi decides to opt for further escalation.
During the interview, Maj Gen Ghafoor, when asked if the two countries were close to war, said, “We were I would say close to war because when they [India] violated the airspace under token aggression, we went for response.”