IAF chief warns Pak: Can locate, fix, strike targets

Air Chief Marshal says force prepared to carry out ‘full spectrum’ of air ops, ready for twofront war

Air force chief BS Dhanoa warned Pakistan on Thursday that India has the capability to “locate, fix and strike” targets across the border.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa’s comments came in response to a question on the possibility of Pakistan using tactical nuclear weapons against India.

He said India’s options were outlined in its nuclear doctrine.

“It is answered in that … what happens when the enemy decides to use nuclear weapons on us. As far as the IAF is concerned, it has the ability to locate, fix and strike and that is not only for tactical nuclear weapons but also for other targets across the border.”

Pakistan should not be expected to exercise restraint if India strikes its nuclear installations, the country’s foreign min- ister, Khawaja Asif, said in response to the Indian air chief’s warning.

“That’s the most diplomatic language I can use,” Asif said at an event in Washington DC.

Pakistan has the world’s fastest-growing nuclear arsenal but its safety has been a cause of global anxiety. More so for New Delhi after premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi declared in September that his country has developed short-range nuclear weapons to counter threats from India.

Dhanoa was speaking to reporters at his customary press conference ahead of the India Air Force’s 85th anniversary on October 8.

He said IAF assets weren’t used during the military “surgical strikes” on militant camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or in Myanmar last year, but the air force is capable of “full spectrum operations”.

The IAF is prepared to fight at a short notice in full synergy with the other two sister services should the need arise AIR CHIEF MARSHAL BIRENDER SINGH DHANOA

NEW DELHI The Pakistan Army said Thursday it is close to a decision on the mercy petition submitted by Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death by a military court there for alleged involvement in espionage and terrorist activities.

“Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mercy petition has come to the army chief. There is a process, everything goes through a process but I can assure that it is near finalisation and we will give you news about this very soon,” Major General Asif Ghafoor, chief military spokesman, told reporters, without giving more details.

A military court has already rejected Jadhav’s mercy plea. If his petition is rejected by the army chief, Jadhav can next approach the President.

The execution of Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, was stayed after India took the matter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The ICJ said Jadhav should not be executed until it gives a final ruling.

The Pakistani military said Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan in March 2016, accusing him of involvement in spying and subversive activities in Balochistan and Karachi.

India dismissed the claim saying Jadhav was kidnapped from the Iranian port of Chabahar.

Foreign minister Khawaja Asif created a stir last month claiming that Pakistan could have swapped Jadhav for a terrorist involved in a 2014 attack on an army school in Peshawar who he said was in the custody of Afghanistan. Afghanistan said it never suggested such a swap.

During the wide-ranging news briefing, Ghafoor also spoke on the situation along the LoC, which has witnessed numerous violations of a ceasefire that was put in place in 2003.