Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit has accused India of setting a dangerous precedent by claiming to have carried out surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In an interview to Outlook, Basit refuted Indian claims of carrying out surgical strikes on terror launch pads across LoC on September 29.
“If you [India] want to label cross-LoC firing as surgical strikes, that is your prerogative and we can’t stop you. But I can assure you, had there been any surgical strikes, Pakistan would have responded immediately and proportionately. As far as Pakistan is concerned, no ‘surgical strike’ took place, it was cross-LoC firing,” Basit said.
However, he warned that India was setting a dangerous precedent by claiming to carrying out covert raids across the LoC.
“It is very dangerous to nurture false expectations. There are high stakes involved on both sides and we are very confident that our deterrence is working and Pakistan will never allow the credibility of its deterrence to erode.,”
When asked as to why India would mislabel “routine operations” as “surgical strikes”, Abdul Basit said, “it is for India to explain.”
Responding to a question on Pakistan’s isolation in the region after cancellation of SAARC summit, Abdul Basit said, “Pakistan is too big a country to be isolated. It This is not the first time that a SAARC summit has been postponed. But we attach importance to SAARC and we are confident that the 19th SAARC summit will be held in Pakistan, perhaps next year.”
