Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday once again invited India for talks and urged better sense should prevail.
Addressing the nation in the wake of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shooting down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace, the premier said, “I wanted to take you into confidence regarding the situation arising since yesterday. We offered India that we are ready to cooperate with them in any kind of investigation after the Pulwama attack.”
“We know how the families of those killed in Pulwama incident must have felt. We have been the victims of war for decades. I have been to hospitals visiting survivors of bomb attacks, the ones who are left behind, who are maimed and left crippled. We know what war means. Since the beginning, we have asked India to share actionable evidence with us. It is nowhere in the interest of Pakistan for it to be used as a base for militancy,” he continued.
“But I had a hunch that India would escalate, and that is why in my earlier speech I had stated that if India plays war games, we will retaliate. We waited, and today we took action. It was our plan to not cause any collateral damage, and not to cause any casualties. We simply wanted to show capability,” the premier explained.
PM Imran continued, “Two Indian MiGs crossed Pakistan’s borders, and we shot them down. I also want to state that the pilot is with us.”
“I want to now address India and say let sanity prevail. Let’s think sensibly. All wars in the world have been started on miscalculations on the time and the human cost of war. This was the same with the First World War, with the Second World War, the war on terror, the Vietnam War. The history of the world shows us wars have always been miscalculation,” he asserted.
“I ask India; with our weapons capability…. on both sides, can we afford a miscalculation? It will neither be in my control or Modi’s. The hurt that has been caused due to the Pulwama attack, we want to come to the table and talk about terrorism that affects us both. We are ready. Let better sense prevail,” the premier urged.
Earlier today, the PAF shot down two Indian aircraft and arrested two pilots.
Director General of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor addressed a press conference earlier today and said Pakistan wants peace and India needs to understand war is a failure of policy.
Stating that the Pakistan armed forces and PAF had no choice but to respond, DG ISPR said the question was “how to respond” whether in “a similar manner as India or as a responsible country”.
“Pakistan’s armed forces have capability, will, resolve and nation’s support. But because we are a responsible state and want peace, we decided first of all that we won’t take any military targets.”
“Secondly, we decided that there be no loss of life or collateral damage in our engaging of targets,” Major General Ghafoor added. “Our planes locked targets, then in open air we carried out strikes,” he continued.
“We locked all targets with accuracy, and when we had option to fire, we acted responsibly from a safe distance. We have capability to do anything, but we don’t want escalation. We don’t want to go towards war,” he asserted.
“After PAF decided on targets, two Indian jets entered Pakistani airspace and the PAF faced them. The two planes were shot down — one fell in our space and the other on their side. Two pilots were arrested — one of them was injured and has been taken to CMH and will be given proper care. Another is in our custody,” the DG ISPR shared.
Refuting Indian media reports that a Pakistani F-16 jet was shot down, Major General Ghafoor said, “Pakistan did not use F-16 in any activity today.”
The Pakistan military spokesperson stressed, “The state, government, armed forces and people of Pakistan have always conveyed a message of peace to India. The road to peace goes through dialogue. Both countries have the capability and capacity but war is the failure of policy which India needs to understand. We do not want to escalate and follow a path which leads to peace. The people of both countries and region at large have a right to live and live in peace. War is not the solution to problems. India should think with a cool head on this offer from Pakistan.”
“Today’s action was in self defence, we don’t want to claim any victory. There are no victors in war. I request media to report objectively, responsibly, to go towards peace. Our message is for peace,” he further said. “Starting a war is easy, but where it ends, nobody knows.”
Calling on the international community to play its role, DG ISPR said, “Pakistan is sending a message of peace and they should also come forward and see how the environment between India and Pakistan are a threat to peace and development not only to the two countries but the region and beyond.”
Major General Ghafoor added, “Pakistan’s response is not a retaliation per se, but a demonstration of our capability, responsibility and will. It is now up to India whether they go towards peace, which is a requirement of the region. But if forced, we will respond.”
In response to a question, Major General Ghafoor said, “Pakistan is not pushing for war. We engaged our targets in open air, we deliberately avoided escalation. We could easily have taken the original targets, but we did not do that.”
Regarding the airspace being closed, the DG ISPR said, “It has been closed due to the environment.”
