Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that Pakistan will respond to any “misadventure or aggression” by Indian forces against it.
Chairing the National Security Committee meeting in Islamabad, Imran Khan alleged that India has used “cluster bombs” on civilians along the Line of Control and called on the UN Security Council to take note of the “international threat to peace and security”.
He said that Pakistan “will always stand with Kashmiris and will not be deterred from its just stance based on United Nations Security Council’s resolutions and aspirations of Kashmiri people”.
Imran Khan’s move comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump renewing his offer to mediate in the Kashmir issue, which India has firmly rejected.
India has firmly stated that any discussion on Kashmir, if warranted, will be only with Pakistan, and only bilaterally.
Imran Khan urged the world leaders and international bodies to take notice of the “irresponsible, unilateral and irrational behaviour of Indian leadership”.
The meeting was briefed on India’s “deplorable suppression” of people of Jammu and Kashmir, plans to use the “bogey of terrorism for political ends”, use of “cluster munitions against civilians to provoke Pakistana and “use of disinformation to confuse the real intent which is changing the demographic structure and the internationally recognized disputed status” of Indian Jammu and Kashmir.
Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Army Chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, CJSC, Naval Chief, Air Chief, head of the Inter-Services Intelligence and others were present in the meeting.
Foreign Minister Qureshi on Sunday contacted the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Dr Yousef bin Ahmed Al Othaimeen and discussed “increasing Indian aggression in Kashmir” with him, reported Radio Pakistan.
Earlier, Qureshi chaired an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office in Islamabad, and urged the international community and world human rights watchdogs to take immediate notice of the situation.
Earlier, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor released a statement, claiming that Indian Army had used “cluster ammunition” to target the civilian population across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistani Jammu and Kashmir in violation of the Geneva Convention and international law, Pakistani media reported.
It said the Indian military, on the intervening night of July 30 and 31, targeted citizens including women and children in Neelum Valley through artillery using cluster ammunition – resulting in the killing of two civilians, including a boy and injuries to 11 other people, according to the ISPR statement.
Maj. Gen. Ghafoor termed as “blatant lies and staged dramas” the Indian Army’s claim that it has foiled an infiltration attempt by a Pakistani BAT (Border Action Team) squad in Keran Sector where 5-7 Pakistani army regulars were eliminated and their bodies are lying on the LoC.
Later, Foreign Office Spokesperson Muhammad Faisal said curtailing of the Amarnath Yatra and deployment of additional troops in Jammu and Kashmir on “baseless pretexts” were “designed to divert the world’s attention from attempts to change the demographic structure of Indian Jammu and Kashmir and unabating state-led oppression and egregious human rights violations”.
