• All wars are miscalculated, warns Imran
• New Delhi wants to avoid any further escalation, Sushma Swaraj says in China

ISLAMABAD: Amid growing tension between Pakistan and India, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday again offered the neighbouring country dialogue to address contentious issues, including terrorism, but at the same time warned it that by shooting down two of India’s fighter planes, the country had demonstrated its capability to respond to any adventurism.

Telling India that war was not a solution to any problem as it could continue for an indefinite period, the prime minister said during his televised address to the nation and decision-makers in India: “Now the question is where we go from here. I tell India that now better sense should prevail.”

History, he said, told us that there were always miscalculations in wars as no one had thought that the wars they had started would lead to where they did. “The First World War was to be concluded in months but it lasted for six years. During the Second World War Hitler wanted to invade Russia but was stuck in the chilly weather. Had the US thought that it would remain engaged in war on terror in Afghanistan for 17 years? Had the US though that Vietnam War would continue for so long?” the prime minister said.

He asked the Indian government whether Pakistan and India could afford miscalculation with stocks of arms and ammunition they had. “We should think that if war starts then where it will go. It will be neither in my control nor Narendra Modi’s,” he added.

Prime Minister Khan again invited India for talks, saying: “I again invite you for talks. When we are ready for dialogue, better sense should prevail and we should settle our issues by sitting together.”

“Two Indian Mig-21 fighter planes crossed border and, in retaliation, were shot down,” the prime minister said in his brief address spread over five-and-a-half minutes.

He said Pakistan could have responded to India’s attack immediately on Tuesday but it refrained from doing so as there was no idea about the damage caused by India’s airstrike. “In the morning I and army and air force chiefs talked and decided that without knowing the damage we should not retaliate that can cause collateral damage on the other side [India],” he added.

“We waited and today took an action just to make India realise that we have the capability to respond and that if you intrude into our country, we can also go to yours, but not to inflict any collateral damage,” he added.

The prime minister said the government was fully prepared to cooperate with India (for an investigation into the Pulwama incident) though it had doubts that India would go for some adventurism due to its coming general elections and that was why the neighbouring country was told that in case of any attack, Pakistan, being a sovereign state, would be compelled to retaliate. “No country has a right to go into any other country and make itself judge, jury and prosecution,” he added.

Prime Minister Khan said he wanted to take all Pakistanis in confidence over the tense situation that had emerged since Tuesday when Indian aircraft intruded into Pakistan’s air space and dropped some payload in a hilly area in Balakot.

He said after the Pulwama attack that had claimed lives of 40 Indian security personnel, Pakistan had offered India cooperation in any sort of investigation. “In Pulwama they [Indians] suffered casualties and we can feel the pain of relatives of Pulwama victims because we have been facing terrorism for over a decade and have experienced such situations time and again as our over 70,000 people have died and hundreds of others have been injured with different disabilities. Some of them [injured] lost their legs and some were deprived of their eyes,” he added.

Mr Khan said he had straight-forwardly offered India that if any Pakistani was involved in the Pulwama attack, Pakistan would fully cooperate (with India on the issue) because it was not in the interest of Pakistan that its soil was used for any sort of terrorism.

India to avoid escalation

In a significant development, Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj said in China that her country wanted to avoid any further escalation of the situation and would continue to act with responsibility and restraint. “India does not wish to see further escalation of the situation. India will continue to act with responsibility and restraint,” she was quoted as saying.

Justifying Tuesday’s pre-dawn air strike in Balakot, Ms Swaraj spoke about “grief and anger” in India after the Pulwama terrorist attack.

“I am visiting China at a time when there is grief and anger in India. It is the worst terrorist attack directed against our security forces in Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.

Following India’s air strike, China has already urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint.

“We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and adopt actions that will help stabilise the situation in the region and improve mutual relations,” Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang had said hours before Ms Swaraj left for China.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2019