As friends in foreign capitals continue to advocate for a de-escalation of tensions in South Asia, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the country was ready for any incursion by India.
The two neighbours have been exchanging fire across the Line of Control (LoC) for four days now, with each blaming the other for provocation.
“We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken,” Khawaja Asif told Reuters on Monday, Dawn reported.
He said the military had briefed the government on the possibility of an Indian attack, but did not go into further details on his reasons for thinking an incursion was imminent.
His remarks follow New Delhi’s increasingly aggressive posturing following an attack in a tourist resort in India-held Kashmir, which claimed over two dozen lives.
Immediately after the Pahalgam attack, India claimed two of the suspects were from Pakistan, albeit without proof. Islamabad has flatly denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.
Asif said Pakistan was on high alert and that it would only use its arsenal of nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence”.
Later, in an interview with Samaa TV, he said, “We should be mentally prepared, there is a war looming on the horizon.”
The channel also quoted him as saying that there was a “vivid possibility” that “we can have war in the next day or two or three or four (sic)”.
However, the defense minister later had to clarify these remarks, telling Geo News: “They (the channel) asked me what the chances of war are, so I said that the next two to three days were crucial.”
“If something has to happen, then it will occur in the next two to four days … otherwise the immediate danger will pass.”
Khawaja Asif also clarified that his statement should not be misconstrued as a categorical prediction that war would begin within the next two to three days, reiterating that he had only said the “upcoming days would be crucial.”
He reiterated that he had said there was a danger of war breaking out in the next few days but it could also be averted, as other countries in the region were working to avert any contentious situation and de-escalate the matter.
He said that Islamabad had approached friendly countries, including Gulf states and China, and also briefed Britain, the United States and others on the situation.
“Some of our friends in the Arabian Gulf have talked to both sides,” Asif said, without naming the countries.
bd-pratidin/GR
