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ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Pakistan on Friday put its armed forces on high alert following threatening statements by Indian leaders in the wake of an armed attack on parliament in New Delhi on Thursday.
President Gen Pervez Musharraf presided over a meeting which decided to keep vigil to meet any eventuality. The chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the three services chiefs and vice chief of the army staff attended the meeting at the GHQ in Rawalpindi.
Official sources told Dawn the meeting had regretted that without having inquired and investigated the attack on parliament, the Indian leaders had started pointing the finger at Pakistan.
The meeting reviewed the situation and decided to take “all necessary steps” to counter any threat coming from across the border.
Pakistan, the president told the meeting, had condemned the attack and sympathized with the Indian prime minister over the issue. However, he added, it had become a routine for India to implicate Pakistan in every matter without giving any proof.
Referring to Islamabad’s relations with Delhi, the president said that Pakistan was continuously making sincere efforts to normalize relations with India despite provocations.
“Why have the Indians rejected the US government’s offer to send an FBI team to investigate the attack on parliament?” asked a senior official.
India, he said, was facing internal problems and had failed to manage its affairs. That’s why, he maintained, it was putting the blame for every thing on Pakistan.
“How did the suicide bomber enter the parliament premises and was it not a big security lapse for which its own people needed to be held responsible?” asked the official, privy to the GHQ meeting. He said that failure in getting its Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance passed by parliament, and Coffins’ Scandal were, in fact, the issues worrying the Indian government.
AFP ADDS: Pakistan said on Friday that India would pay a heavy price for any “misadventure” after Delhi accused Pakistan-based militant groups of mounting the suicide attack on its parliament.
Military spokesman Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi said India would pay a heavy price for any “misadventure” following the attacks.
“India seems to be making efforts to create tension by blaming Pakistan,” he said. “India will pay heavily if they engage in any misadventure.”
He said the whole incident was a propaganda stunt by India itself. “The attack on parliament is a drama staged by Indian intelligence agencies to defame the freedom struggle in occupied Kashmir,” he said.
“It has never been our policy to attack civilian targets. Lashkar and other Jihadi organizations are not involved in the recent attack. “Those (Indians) who can kill thousands of defenceless people in Kashmir can resort to such tactics to gain international sympathy. We demand the international community probe this attack independently to know the truth.”
