*Pakistani PM (IK) outplays Indian PM (NM)
*Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot, Wing Commander
Abhinandan Varthaman to send back home today (Friday, March 1, 2019) as a peace
gesture from Pakistan
*PM Modi busy in political point
scoring
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday announced that
Pakistan will release captured Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot, Wing Commander
Abhinandan Varthaman, tomorrow (Friday) as a peace gesture.
Wing Commander Abhinandan was taken into custody on
Wednesday after his MIG-21 was shot down by Pakistan Air Force for intruding
into Pakistani air space on the Line of Control (LoC).
Addressing the joint session of parliament, Prime Minister Imran announced that his government had decided to return Abhinandan to India as a goodwill gesture and to show Pakistan’s commitment to peace.
“In our desire for peace, I announce that tomorrow,
and as a first step to open negotiations, Pakistan will be releasing the Indian
Air Force officer in our custody,” PM Imran said.
The gesture was greeted with near
unanimous support in the parliament.
“Pakistan’s desire for de-escalation should not be
confused as weakness,” PM Imran stressed, as he thanked the parliamentary
opposition for the continued support amid rising tensions with India.
“The only purpose of our strike was to demonstrate our
capability and will,” he said while addressing the House. “We did not want to
inflict any casualty on India as we wanted to act in a responsible manner.”
PM Khan said he tried to call Indian PM Narendra Modi
on the phone yesterday (Wednesday) because “escalation is not in our interests
nor in India’s”.
“I reached out to New Delhi after assuming charge as
prime minister. I wrote to Narendra Modi and suggested a meeting between the
foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. But
we did not get a positive response.”
Imran said Islamabad realised
that due to the upcoming elections in India, the Narendra Modi-led BJP
[Bhartiya Janata party] government was not very keen on maintaining good ties
with Pakistan.
“We decided to wait until after India’s general
elections. We opened up Kartarpur Corridor as a positive gesture but we feared
misadventures,” he said.
“Then the Pulwama attack happened. Within half an
hour, India blamed Pakistan for the attack. We had Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad
bin Salman visiting Islamabad. Why would we sabotage an important conference?
What could we gain from it?”
The prime minister said that he had publicly offered
complete cooperation to India in investigating the Pulwama suicide
attack. “But instead of sharing any intelligence, India opted for
war-hysteria. I want to pay homage to Pakistan’s media for the responsible
coverage. Our media did not engage in warmongering,” said Imran.
No country allows its sovereignty to be attacked.
India shared the dossier today, after breaching international laws and
attacking Pakistan, he added.
Imran said the Pakistani nation was inspired by heroes
like Tipu Sultan and would never surrender to the enemy or compromise its
dignity.
“As a dignified nation, we will fight till our last
breath if forced to choose between freedom and slavery,” he said.
The prime minister also made a
comparison between the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar who chose to
surrender and Tipu Sultan, the Ruler of Maysore, who fought till his death.
“We’d heard about the two kings. But our hero is Tipu
Sultan,” Imran Khan referred to the brave Ruler of Maysore, who used to say: ‘A
lion’s life for a day is better than that of hundred years of a jackal.’
Addressing the joint sitting of both houses of
parliament, National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif lauded the
Pakistan Army and air force for thwarting India’s aggression.
“Pakistan is united and the entire nation speaks in
one voice,” he said, adding that our armed forces will give blow to the enemy.
Shehbaz Sharif said this was an
important turn in the history of the country adding that Pakistan retaliated
well to counter the Indian aggression.
He said Kashmir was bleeding and the international
bodies were silent.
He further said that Pakistan should not attend OIC
meetings till the groups condemns atrocities in Kashmir.
Tensions between Pakistan and India escalated
dramatically on February 14 when a young Kashmiri rammed an explosives-laden
car into an Indian paramilitary convoy, killing at least 44 soldiers.
India was quick to blame Pakistan for the suicide
bombing.
PM Imran offered every possible
help in the investigation, but India turned down the offer and whipped up war
hysteria.
On February 26, the Indian Air Force violated
Pakistani airspace. The country’s top civil and military leadership declared
the violation of airspace by Indian fighter jets “uncalled for aggression” and
decided that the country would respond at a “time and place of its choosing”.
On February 27, Pakistan announced it had shot down
two Indian fighter jets that attempted to violate its airspace and captured an
Indian pilot. The military’s media wing later released a video of the pilot,
who introduced himself as Wing Commander Abhinandan bearing service number
27981.
Pakistani military’s spokesman Major General Asif
Ghafoor said in a press conference that the armed forces had responsibly
retaliated to Indian incursion by striking a target few miles from an Indian
military’s administrative unit to ensure there were no human life or collateral
damage.
“We decided to not hit a military target or endanger
human life. We did not want to retaliate at the cost of regional peace. We do
not want escalation,” he told reporters.
A few hours later, Prime Minister Imran Khan took the
nation into confidence over the armed forces’ response. As escalating tensions
fuelled concerns of all-out war between nuclear-tipped Pakistan, Imran warned
of catastrophic consequences should “better sense” not prevail.
The premier ended his speech with another peace talks
offer and cooperation in Pulwama attack investigation to India.
A day earlier, the top political
leadership of the country was given an in-camera briefing at the Parliament
House.
Opposition parties expressed satisfaction over the
briefing mainly conducted by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Army Chief
Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor.
An official handout issued by the National Assembly
Secretariat said: “The forum unanimously expressed that they stand united
against any aggression against Pakistan and will support the government and its
institutions unconditionally.”
It said the participants also “expressed hope that
those who want peace and stability will prevail as war is not an option but a
failure of policy”.
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