Asking its eastern neighbour to exhibit prudence and sanity, Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said Pakistan and India cannot afford any miscalculation and that dialogue is the only option to address their issues.
The prime minister’s televised remarks came hours after Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace and arrested an Indian pilot on ground.
“History tells us that wars are full of miscalculation. My question is that, given the weapons we have, can we afford miscalculation,” Imran said in his address to the nation hours after the PAF shot down two MiG-21 aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
Taking the nation into confidence, the prime minister said it is important for Pakistan and India to exhibit prudence and sanity as all big wars in the history happened because of miscalculation. He said the major world wars were rooted in miscalculation. “All wars have been miscalculated. First World War was supposed to end in weeks, it took six years. The point came in the Second World War when Hitler thought that he would conquer Russia but he had not thought that it would have to be delayed due to cold weather of Russia and he faced defeat. Similarly, the US never expected the war on terrorism to last for 17 years. Moreover, US had not thought about the long Vietnam War. History has taught us that all wars were the result of miscalculations,” he said.
Imran Khan said despite his assurances, he had doubt that India would not listen to his advice, keeping in view forthcoming general election. He said he had warned India that Pakistan would be forced to retaliate in case of any misadventure. He said Pakistan offered India cooperation as it is not in Pakistan’s own interest to let its soil used against any other country. He said Pakistan was fully prepared as it had doubts that India would indulge in any misadventure after the Pulwama incident. “Yet, I had still feared that India would ignore the offer and still take action, and I had therefore warned India against aggression and said we will be compelled to respond because no sovereign country can allow the violation of its sovereignty and did not allow any other country to decide about the crime and assume the role of judge, jury and execution,” he said. “Moreover, I had the fear that India would act because of their upcoming elections, therefore, I had told India that Pakistan will respond,” he added.
“We did not respond in haste as we did not have a complete assessment of the damage caused and it would have been irresponsible on our part as it may have resulted in casualties on their side. Once we assessed the damage caused, we were ready to take action,” the prime minister said. “The sole purpose of our action is to convey that if you can come into our country, we can do the same. That is the only purpose of what we did. Two of their MiGs (aircraft) were shot down by Pakistani forces after they crossed over into our territory. And I want to tell that their pilots are with us,” he added.
“I understand the pain of the families who lost family members in Pulwama. I have visited hospitals and seen the pain of people affected by violence in Pakistan. We have lost 70,000 of our own people during the last 10 years and I can realize the pain and suffering of the survivors and the injured who were crippled and who lost their eyes, he said.
“I once again invite you: we are ready. We are ready for any sort of dialogue. I reiterate that better sense should prevail. Let’s sit together and settle this with talks,” he concluded.
Earlier in the day, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor in a tweet revealed, “[The] PAF shot down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace.
One of the aircraft fell inside AJ&K [Azad Jammu and Kashmir] while [the] other fell inside IoK [Indian occupied Kashmir]. One Indian pilot arrested by troops on ground while two in the area.”
While addressing a press conference an hour after his tweet, Maj Gen Ghafoor said that another pilot has been arrested. “Our ground forces arrested two pilots; one of them was injured and has been shifted to CMH [Combined Military Hospital] and, God-willing, he will be taken care of,” he said. “The other one is with us.”
Later, in a tweet, he said that only one pilot is currently in the custody of the Pakistan Army. “Today’s action was in self defence; we do not want to claim any victory. The way we set out target and made sure that there were no collateral damage – the in-built message was that despite out capability, we look towards peace,” said the army spokesperson. “Today morning, Pakistan Air Force engaged six targets at the LoC. Because we are a responsible state and want peace, we decided that we will not use any military target. “As a result of engaging our target, no human life was affected. Staying within our jurisdiction, six targets were locked. And we carried out the strike,” he said.
“Pakistan is not pushing the environment towards war,” he asserted, adding that Pakistan deliberately and thoughtfully avoided escalation. “If that were the case [that Pakistan wanted to escalate], we could have easily engaged the [military] targets, which our air force had locked. That would have resulted in human casualties and collateral damage as well. We [instead] engaged a nearby open space where there were no human lives or military posts. We deliberately avoided the escalation. We only wanted to demonstrate that we could have easily taken the original target, which was their administrative setup and military post. But we did not do that,” he reiterated.
The military spokesperson also rubbished reports that a PAF F-16 had been shot down inside the occupied valley. “Indian media is saying that they shot down a Pakistani F-16. Firstly, Pakistan did not use F-16s in the entire action and there is no news that a Pakistan plane was downed,” he said.
The spokesperson also publicly announced the closure of the Pakistani airspace. “The airspace is closed due to the [security] environment,” he said.
To a question about upcoming meeting of the National Command Authority and potential use of nuclear weapons, the DG said, “I have always said that we must not talk about this [a nuclear strike]. It is insane to talk about this. It is a capability and a weapon of political choice. Neither is this our level nor is this a topic that should be talked about.”
“Pakistan’s response is actually not a retaliation,” he again clarified. “It is the demonstration of our capability, capacity and will. We stayed within the domain of responsibility as a state that has the potential [to respond]. We don’t want to escalate the situation. It is up to India now if they [choose to] go for the way that we have suggested and which is the requirement of this region: peace. But it is understood that if aggression is imposed on us, then we will respond. But that will be under compulsion,” he added.
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said Pakistan has taken strikes at a non-military target, avoiding human loss and collateral damage. “Pakistan Air Force (PAF) conducted strikes across Line of Control (LoC) from within Pakistani airspace. This was not a retaliation to continued Indian belligerence. Pakistan has therefore, taken strikes at non-military target, avoiding human loss and collateral damage,” the FO statement read. “Sole purpose being to demonstrate our right, will and capability for self-defence. We have no intention of escalation, but are fully prepared to do so if forced into that paradigm,” it said. “That is why we undertook the action with clear warning and in broad daylight.”
“For the last few years, India has been trying to establish what they call ‘a new normal’, a thinly veiled term for doing acts of aggression at whatever pretext they wish on a given day. If India is striking at so called terrorist backers without a shred of evidence, we also retain reciprocal rights to retaliate against elements that enjoy Indian patronage while carrying out acts of terror in Pakistan. We do not wish to go to that route and wish that India gives peace a chance and to resolve issues like a mature democratic nation.”
Later in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) in order to review the evolving situation.
The NCA is the apex civilian-led forum headed by the prime minister to oversee the policy formulation, exercises, deployment, research and development, employment and operational command and control of the country’s nuclear arsenals.
Published in Daily Times, February 28th 2019.
