Pakistan wants peace with India: Army

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan wants peace with India and resolution of all issues, including Kashmir, through talks on the basis of self-respect and honour, the army said on Tuesday.

“We want the Kashmir issue to be resolve via United Nations resolutions and dialogue, but this desire for peace should not be misconstrued as a weakness,” Military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor told reporters in Rawalpindi.

He said Pakistan wants resolution of all issues through talks on the basis of selfrespect and honour.

“India is working on a plan and that’s why it staged a drama of surgical strike. Armed forces and the people are ready to respond to any misadventure by India,” he said. India maintains that its forces last year conducted surgical strikes in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir, targetting terrorists and destroying their training camps. Ghafoor said India committed 945 ceasefire violations across the LOC and international border over the past three years.

In response to a question on alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is in Pakistani custody, Ghafoor said that his matter will be addressed as per Pakistani laws.

Jadhav, who was reportedly arrested in Balochistan after he entered from Iran, has been accused by Pakistan of planning “subversive activities” in the country.

Pakistan Army had also released a “confessional video” of Jadhav, who said he was the serving Indian Navy officer.

India has acknowledged Jadhav as a retired Indian Navy officer, but denied the allegation that he was in any way connected to the government.

Maj Gen Ghafoor also underlined that Pakistan had stationed 200,000 troops on the western border with Afghanistan as the “strategic threat” was not over.