India\u2019s move to block Chenab river flows to be deemed \u201can act of war\u201d if not reversed, deputy prime minister says
\n ISLAMABAD
\nDeputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan did not consider deploying nuclear warheads to strike India when the tensions between the two countries mounted last week. The deputy prime minister, in an interview with CNN, said that Pakistan \u201chad no choice\u201d but to launch strikes in \u201cself-defense\u201d following India\u2019s May 7 cross-border attacks.
\nTerming India\u2019s strikes a \u201cwar\u201d and a \u201cwishful attempt to establish its hegemony\u201d in Kashmir, he said, \u201cThere are certain times when you have to take very serious decisions… We were very sure that our conventional capacity and capabilities are strong enough that we will beat them both in air and on ground.\u201d
\nWhile the ceasefire agreement has so far appeared to hold, Dar told the interviewer that long-term negotiations between the two parties were \u201cnot done yet.\u201d \u201cWe still hope sense will prevail,\u201d he remarked. He said that it was in the interest of everybody not to delay or to leave such issues beyond a certain reasonable time.
\n\u201c(The Indians) had seen what happened in the sky,\u201d he added. \u201cThey could see how serious the damage was.\u201d Deputy Prime Minister said that there was no direct contact between Indian or Pakistani officials, contradicting a previous assertion made by India\u2019s director general of military operations, who reportedly received a message from his counterpart in Pakistan during the talks.
\nInstead, he said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio passed on the message that India was ready to stop the fighting. He said that Pakistan was looking forward to establishing a path for long-term peace and security that would provide \u201cdignity for both sides.\u201d
\nCalling Kashmir \u201cthe root cause of this regional instability\u201d Ishaq Dar called for granting the self-determination right to the Kashmir people. He reiterated that Pakistan was not behind last month\u2019s attack in Pahalgam, saying, \u201cWe condemn terrorism in all forms and all manifestations.\u201d
\nDar added that he believed US President Donald Trump supported Pakistan\u2019s anti-terrorism efforts. \u201cIf they didn\u2019t believe (in our efforts), they would not have cooperated the way (that they did),\u201d Dar said, pointing to Trump\u2019s social media post on \u201cfinding a solution\u201d to the Kashmir conflict.
\nHowever, Dar warned that the already precarious ceasefire could be threatened if the water issue was not resolved in the coming talks, referring to the Indian decision of holding the bilateral Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. Failure to resolve the water issue \u201cwill amount to an act of war,\u201d Dar added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
India\u2019s move to block Chenab river flows to be deemed \u201can act of war\u201d if not reversed, deputy prime minister says ISLAMABAD Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan did not consider deploying nuclear warheads to strike India when the tensions between the two countries mounted last week. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-478086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n