Hours after the Indian army chief threatened to take control of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan Army on Saturday dismissed the ‘routine rhetoric’ which it said is aimed at diverting attention from the ongoing internal turmoil.
“Statements by Indian COAS to undertake military action across LoC (Line of Control) are routine rhetoric for domestic audiences to get out of ongoing internal turmoil,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet. “Pakistan’s armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any act of Indian aggression,” he added.
Speaking at a news conference earlier in the day, ahead of India’s Army Day on Jan 15, Indian army chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane continued with his belligerent rhetoric in his effort to stay in the headlines in India’s jingoistic media, saying his force will take steps to take control of AJK if the Indian government gives such an order.
Naravane claimed that a parliamentary resolution stated that the “entire erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir” – a reference to the region including AJK – is part of India. “There is a parliamentary resolution from several years ago about this that the entire erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India,” he said, according to Hindustan Times. “If parliament desires that area to also become our part at some point and if we receive any orders to this effect, then action will definitely be taken,” he added.
Naravane, who took over as army chief on Dec 31, also warned of possible tie-up between Pakistan and China in Siachen with any link up between the two all-weather friends in the region posing a threat to Ladakh, Indian media reported. He said India and China will set up a hot line between senior military commanders to ensure better communication to maintain peace and stability along their common borders.
This is not the first time the new Indian general has indulged in provocative posturing. In an earlier statement, Naravane had said that India “reserve[d] the right to preemptively strike at sources of terror”. He had told the Press Trust of India that India had “evolved a strategy of resolute punitive response against sponsored terrorism”.
Pakistan had rejected the statement, calling it ‘irresponsible’. The Foreign Office in its statement had said Pakistan was fully able to respond to any Indian aggression in AJK and that New Delhi should not forget Islamabad’s befitting response to its aggression in Balakot last year.
DG ISPR Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had also responded to the Indian army chief’s threatening statements, saying Gen Naravane “knows full well the situation in the region and the capability of the Pakistan Army. He was part of the Indian force on Feb 27 as well. So he’s not new.” Maj Gen Ghafoor had expressed the hope that Naravane “will no longer let go of reason”. “The Pakistan Army knows how to defend the country and India also knows this,” he had said at the time.
Tensions between Pakistan and India had spiked sharply after New Delhi annexed occupied Kashmir on August 5 last year by revoking the region’s special constitutional status. Ongoing widespread protests in India against the controversial citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens renewed fears of Indian aggression.
The two countries had in February last year engaged in cross-border aerial missions, which had resulted in the capture of Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman by Pakistani forces. The captured pilot was eventually let go by Pakistan as a gesture of peace.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, while addressing a rally in Pind Dadan Khan on December 26, had said Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has assured him that the country’s military was ready for India in case of an attack on Azad Kashmir. “I am telling you now, [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi will use this [protests against anti-Muslim laws in India] to do something in Azad Kashmir. I informed Gen Bajwa about this and he told me that Pakistan Army is ready for India,” the prime minister had said at the rally.
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