Islamabad: “Pakistan is not like Myanmar”, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan said on Wednesday and warned India that his country cannot be cowed down by the threats from across the border.
Khan’s statement came in response to Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s remarks that military action in Myanmar to hit back at rebels who killed 18 soldiers in Manipur was a message to other countries.
Rathore’s comments were interpreted here as a warning to Pakistan.
Khan said that it should be clear to India that “Pakistan is not a country like Myanmar”.”Those having ill designs against Pakistan should listen carefully that our security forces are capable of matching response to any adventurism,” he said.
Khan said that Pakistan would never accept India hegemony and that the “Indian leaders should stop day dreaming”.
He said that India’s “nefarious designs” will not succeed in future like in the past.
He also said that Pakistan cannot be cowed down by the threats from across the border.
The minister said that he was disappointed at regular violation of the LoC and working boundary by the Indian Army and India’s refusal to start peace talks with Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Army Chief Raheel Sharif took serious note of Indian “hostile rhetoric” and pledged to foil any “evil” design against the country.
Sharif made the remarks while chairing the Formation Commanders Conference in Rawalpindi comprising top military commanders to review the ongoing operation against militants in the country.
The forum took “serious notice of recent Indian hostile rhetoric coupled with their covert & overt actions to destabilise Pak”, Military spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said in one of seven tweets regarding the conference.
The commanders also discussed the threat by India in the light of recent anti-Pakistan “rhetoric” by Indian leaders.
Sharif “reiterated resolve to defeat their designs, defend Pakistan’s territorial integrity at any cost. None should dare to cast an evil eye on Pakistan,” he tweeted.
“Regrettable, Indian politicians not only indulge in actions violating UN Charter, but also take pride in claiming interference in others affairs,” he said in yet another tweet.
The comments came in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks against Pakistan in Dhaka and saying it was aimed at fanning hatred and souring its ties with Bangladesh.
About the ‘Operation Zarb-e-Azb’, Bajwa said terrorists were dislodged from strongholds in North Waziristan and Khyber and the fight was now moving to last few pockets of resistance which are close to Pak-Afghan border.
“Operations will continue till elimination of last the terror group and the last sanctuary. Escape of entrapped terrorists will not be allowed,” he said.
Pakistan launched the military operation last year and has so far killed about 2,000 rebels, according to the army. (PTI)
