Pakistan Is Ready For War: PM Khan
On Friday Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said the country was ready for war and its army would respond if attacked by India or “any superpower” during a speech in southeast Pakistan's Chachro town, according to Al Masdar News based on televised footage.
“If someone, if it is India or any superpower, wishes to enslave the Pakistani nation, I want to make it clear that my nation and I will fight until the last breath to save our independence,” he said. “Keep in mind; you will receive a befitting response from here.”
Following repeat Indian accusations that Pakistani actively harbors terrorists which have recently struck Indian troops and police — such as a recent Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Feb. 14 suicide bomb attack which killed 40 in the Indian-controlled part of the disputed Kashmir region, resulting in India sending fighter jets into Pakistan for the first time since the 1970s, leading to current tensions — Khan underscored that his policy has been to defeat all terrorist militias anywhere in Pakistan.
“Unfortunately, this policy was not implemented in the recent past but after we came to power, we decided to implement the National Action Plan,” said Khan.
He vowed that "in case of any misadventure by India, the armed forces and people of Pakistan are fully prepared to respond."
Despite Khan's bellicose rhetoric on Friday, both nuclear armed nations appear to have walked back from the brink, also amidst continued diplomatic interventions by Russia and China who have sought to calm tensions and facilitate negotiations.
Pakistan is currently under international pressure to demonstrate that it will not tolerate the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammed or any other terror group on territory under its administration.
According to a New Indian Express report:
Pakistan authorities on Thursday sealed the Lahore headquarters of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and detained over 120 suspected militants as part of an ongoing crackdown on banned groups.
The confiscation of properties of JuD and FIF had come after Pakistan formally placed them in the list of banned organizations on Tuesday.
But this will certainly not satisfy India, which has maintained the right to conduct counter-terror exercises even in disputed border regions, which led to the latest round of ratcheting tensions in the first place.
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