NEW DELHI —Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday called for peace and invited India for dialogue over the Pulwama attack saying, “better sense must prevail”.
“There have been miscalculations in all big wars. Hence, I would like to invite Narendra Modi for dialogue over the Pulwama attack,” Khan said.
“I want to invite Modi again for dialogue. Better sense must prevail. We should sit together and solve our problems,” Khan said.
Khan said there was no guarantee that a war between India and Pakistan would solve problems between the two countries. “Given the weapons both the countries have, can we not miscalculate the situation?” Khan said. “Things will not be in our control or Narendra Modi’s control.”
The Indian government has consistently pushed back against Khan’s assertions. In a press conference yesterday, India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale said India was forced to strike after receiving credible information that the proscribed Jaish e’ Mohammed (JeM) was planning terror attacks across India.
“Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important,” Gokhale said. “India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot.”
Khan said that Pakistan did not take action against India’s ‘non-military’ pre-emptive strike in Balakot because they first wanted to take stock of the situation.
“We did not take action yesterday because we did not know what kind of damage was cased in Pakistan. We waited and we took action in a manner so that there was no colateral damage. This was just a way to show India that if you take action, so can we. But where do we go from here?” Khan asked and reiterated that only dialogue could solve the issue between the two countries.
Khan claimed that India’s air strike came despite Pakistan’s offer cooperating in the investigation on Pulwama. He also hinted that the Narendra Modi government could have taken this particular course keeping mind the upcoming general elections.
“We told India that we will cooperate. It is not in the interest of Pakistan that our land be used for terrorism. Despite that India took action. But if they take action, we are also forced to reply. Elections are approaching in India and I have a feeling that India may take this course,” Khan said.