Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has warned India of “unbearable damage” if it tried to impose a short or long war on his country, PTI reports.
“Let me reiterate that our armed forces stand fully capable to defeat all sorts of external aggression.
“If the enemy ever resorts to any misadventure, regardless of its size and scale – short or long – it will have to pay an unbearable cost,” he said in his address at a special event organized by army at its Headquarters in Rawalpindi Sunday to mark the 50 anniversary of the 1965 war with India.
The remarks were a pointed response to a statement by Indian army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag who said last week that Indian army was prepared for “swift, short nature of future wars”.
“Armed forces of Pakistan are fully capable of dealing with all types of internal and external threats, may it be conventional or sub-conventional; whether it is cold start or hot start. We are ready,” said General Raheel.
This time, the reference was towards India’s cold start doctrine of war.
Terming Kashmir as “unfinished agenda of partition”, he said that it should be resolved according to UN resolution which calls for plebiscite to decide its future.
He also warned that Kashmir issue cannot be put in the back-burner.
India’s main political parties the BJP and Congress attacked Sharif over his provocative remarks targeting India.
BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said it was an “empty boast” by General Sharif, adding that his provocative comments were driven by desperation over Pakistan’s internal crisis as well “exposure” of its role in sponsoring terrorism in India.
Minister of state in PMO Jitendra Singh said the only issue with Pakistan is about how to get back parts of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation,
Terming Sharif’s remarks as “belligerent and irrational”, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the only unfinished agenda before the world was to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a haven for global terrorists.
Pakistan deploys first homemade drone
A missile-firing Pakistani drone has killed at least three suspected militants in the first ever reported use of the indigenously developed aircraft in combat, the military said Monday.
The deployment of the drone will add a new layer of complexity to a debate on the use of drones in Pakistan where the government has officially denounced numerous strikes by U.S. drones on militants over the past decade.
The “Burraq” drone attacked a suspected militant hideout in the Shawal Valley, which has long been a militant stronghold on the border with Afghanistan, said Major General Asim Bajwa, the military’s chief spokesman.
“Hit a terrorist compound in Shawal Valley killing (three) high profile terrorists,” Bajwa said in a posting on his Twitter feed. He did not say when the drone strike happened or give any more details.