After the suspension of India of the Industry Water Treaty and a series of hostile measures after the deadly attack in the Pahalgam region of Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the Minister of Defense, Khawaja Asif (IIOJK) (IIOJK), announced on Wednesday that a meeting of the National National Security Committee (NSC) will be held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Addressing a private news channel, AIF said: “The National Security Committee will decide an appropriate response to the Indian stages.” He said India could not unilaterally suspend the treaty, noting that the World Bank is also a key stake in the agreement.
“According to the treaty, India is unable to make such a decision alone,” said Asif, warning that Pakistan is fully able to respond to provocations, as shown in the episode of Abhinandan in 2019. “If India takes extreme measures under internal pressure, we are prepared,” he said.
He also rejected India’s allegations on Pakistani participation in Pahalgam incident, calling them “inappropriate”.
Speaking on another television channel, AIF reiterated the constant condemnation of terrorism by Pakistan and said it was one of the worst victims of the threat. “There should be no ambiguity that we strongly condemn terrorism,” he said, while adding that the possibility of a false flag operation could not be excluded.
Asif has also accused India of sponsoring terrorist activities in Balutchistan, hosting separatists and supporting Tehreek-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) through its consulates in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Darrier of Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar echoed the feelings of the Asif, describing India’s announcements as “inappropriate and lacking seriousness”, and promised an “appropriate response”. “The NSC will publish a complete response tomorrow,” said DAR on the same program, stressing that India had provided no credible evidence connecting Pakistan to the attack.
DAR accused New Delhi of using Pakistan as a scapegoat for its internal failures. “Backing the others without evidence is not justified,” he said.
In addition, the senator of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), Irfan Siddiqui, described the pahalgam incident as an operation of false flag which allegedly “orchestrated by the Indian army”.
Siddiqui underlined the diagram of India to stage such incidents during sensitive international moments. “India has forcefully occupied the cashmere and has constantly engaged in acts of terrorism in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the Pakistani authorities had apprehended Indian spies in the past.
