The civil and military leadership, during a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting on Sunday, vowed to respond to any “misadventure or aggression” by the Indian forces against Pakistan, a press release by the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The meeting was summoned by Prime Minister Imran Khan in the wake of the Indian army’s use of cluster ammunition to target the civilian population in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) across the Line of Control (LoC) in violation of the Geneva Convention and international law.
Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and other top civil and military leaders attended the meeting.
The participants condemned Indian army’s “destabilising efforts” in AJK and occupied Kashmir at a time when “Pakistan and the international community were focused on resolving the Afghan conflict”. They also noted that aggression by the Indian forces will “increase the level of violence and turn [the region] into a flash point and a destabilising factor”.
“The more India is exposed internally and internationally in its machinations, the more there are chances that it may resort to desperate and risky options including false flag operations,” the statement read.
In a major escalation in the ceasefire violations, India has begun using cluster munitions on civilian population living close to the LoC. The use of cluster bombs on the Neelum Valley over the past few days has caused multiple fatalities and injuries to several others, including minor children.
Over the past few years, besides a spike in terms of intensity of ceasefire breaches, India has also resorted to calibre escalation and air space violations along LoC. The use of cluster bomb is therefore a step further towards escalation in the situation along LoC.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the political leadership of Pakistan needs to come on the same page and expose the “state terrorism by India in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK)” and the situation at the LoC.
She said that this was not the time for politics, rather it was the time to stand up for the nation’s welfare and for Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, adding that the country’s leadership should send a message of unity and solidarity.
