PARACHINAR (Kurram Agency): Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said today [July 15] Pakistan may consider India’s request for talks, but that first “we will have to put to test India’s denial of synchronisation of her forces with those of Afghanistan on Pakistan’s borders”. Addressing a Press conference here ... he recalled that it was Pakistan which had asked for postponement of talks with India, following the latter’s nuclear blast on May 18. It was then stated that a reasonable period of time should elapse before deciding on talks with India.

But ... a new development had occurred on Pakistan’s borders — concentration of Indian troops at Sialkot and Azad Kashmir synchronised with the movement of Afghan forces on the Durand Line — and, therefore, certain steps have to be taken in the national interest.

He told a questioner there have so far been no clashes on either of the frontiers. ... Nevertheless, necessary preparations ... had been made to meet such a situation. He said he did not expect that war was round the corner, nor for that matter did he want to create war hysteria. At the same time, he made it clear he never concealed anything from the people.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2024