India wants to keep Pakistan at limited level: Defence minister

Eurasia News

khawaja-asif
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif has said that India wants to keep Pakistan at a limited level so that it can continue disturbing us.

“They want to shift the attention towards eastern border for some reasons,” he said in his address at a book launching ceremony in Islamabad.

The minister reiterated that Pakistan still wants to have peaceful relations with India which, he said, is actually promoting terrorism in Pakistan.

“But threats will not be tolerated,” he said in reference to recent provocative statements made by the Indian leadership.

Last week, the Indian Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said during a press briefing in New Delhi that surgical strikes could be carried out on the western (Pakistan) border like the Indian army did in Myanmar.

“Pakistan is cognizant on Indian statements and is fully capable to counter any aggression,” Khawaja Asif said.

Talking about the unresolved Kashmir dispute between the two nuclear-armed countries, Asif said that Kashmir remained central part of our foreign policy.

“Pakistan’s foreign policy hinges the issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” the minister said.

The defence minister also pointed out Indian intention to sabotage the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which he said would be a regional game changer in fading away regional hegemony.