Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry Saturday said the entire Pakistani nation stands united against the Indian aggression and war hysteria but on the contrary the Indian people are bitterly divided at the moment.
“Today the entire Pakistani nation has again united against the Indian aggression and war hysteria but on the contrary the Indian people are divided as they have now realized the facts about the attitude of their leadership towards Pakistan,” the minister said while addressing the convocation ceremony of a private university here. “Around 21 political parties of India have crticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his war mongering,” he added.
The Kashmir issue should be resolved in an amicable way to ensure durable peace in the region, Fawad said, and added that the world at large has applauded Prime Minister Imran Khan’s peace offer to India since war has never been a solution to any problem among the countries. “Whole political and military leadership of Pakistan as well as other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran and Turkey, have appreciated the prime minister’s policy statement offering India to sort out all issues in a peaceful manner through dialogue, avoiding any war and altercation,” he said. “They have also reposed their full confidence in Imran Khan’s vision for bringing about stability and durable peace in the region,” he added.
Both the countries, the minister said, have already fought three wars. “And if India wants another war, Pakistan is fully ready for it,” he said. “However, Pakistan wants peace in the region and settlement of all mutual issues through dialogue,” he maintained. “Pakistan has always played a responsible role for restoration of peace in the region … India will also have to change its mindset for peace as the current era is not that of war,” he added.
Fawad said during his visit to Saudi Arabia, the prime minister talked of Pakistan’s philosophy of maintaining peaceful and cordial relations with all its neighbours, including India and Afghanistan. “The unrest and chaos in Afghanistan has affected peace in Pakistan as some 70,000 people have been martyred due to instability and war-like situation in the neighbourhood,” he added.
The minister said there has been a reign of terror in the Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) for long with the innocent Kashmiris being killed by the occupation forces. “The Kashmir dispute is not an issue of territory for Pakistan as Pakistanis have blood relations with the Kashmiris and for whom they have fought three wars. We feel the atrocities being perpetrated by India on Kashmiris as on ourselves,” he added.
Published in Daily Times, March 3rd 2019.
