Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, in the early hours of Wednesday, said “credible intelligence” reports indicated India is planning to conduct a military action against Pakistan within the next 24-36 hours amidst mounting tensions between the neighboring nations after the Pahalgam attack.
In a video statement, Tarar said the reports suggested India would use the “pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident.” Describing India’s actions as “reckless,” he stressed that Pakistan vehemently rejected “Indian self-assumed hubristic role of judge, jury and executioner in the region.”
Emphasizing that as a victim of terrorism itself, Pakistan “truly understands the pain of this scourge,” he maintained that the country had always condemned it in all its forms and manifestations globally. As a responsible state, he said, Pakistan “openheartedly offered a credible, transparent and independent investigation” by a neutral commission of experts to ascertain the truth.
“Unfortunately, rather than pursuing the path of reason, India has apparently decided to tread the dangerous path of irrationality and confrontation, which will have catastrophic consequences for the complete region and beyond,” he said, adding the “evasion of credible investigations is in itself sufficient evidence exposing India’s real motives.”
The information minister said “consciously making strategic decisions hostage to public sentiments, purposefully trumped up for securing political objectives, is unfortunate and deplorable.” Reiterating that any such military adventurism by India would trigger an assured and decisive response, he urged the international community to take note.
“The international community must remain alive to the reality that the onus of escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India,” he said, reiterating the nation’s resolve to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan at all costs.
Tarar’s statement follows several days of Indian and Pakistani troops exchanging fire on the Line of Control. On Tuesday, Indian P.M. Narendra Modi gave the military “operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response to the terror attack.”