New Delhi: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday denied their role in the deadly Pulwama terror attack in which 40 soldiers were martyred, adding that Pakistan will retaliate if India attacks.
“All this ‘attack Pakistan’ talk is all keeping elections in mind. But if at all these are serious, please make note of one thing clearly – Pakistan will not think of retaliating, it will retaliate,” he said.
“There will be no other option left with Pakistan,” he added in a video message.
This is Imran Khan’s first statement on the Pulwama attack, the worst-ever terror strike on security forces in Kashmir.
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Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad was behind the attack and a 20-year-old school dropout who joined the outfit last year was the bomber who targeted a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on February 14.
The Jaish-e-Mohammad is believed to have strong support from the Pakistani army and Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI.
“Pakistan is moving towards stability. Why would we do something like this? If there is any actionable intelligence, I assure you, Pakistan will take action on priority,” Imran Khan added.
Cricketer-turned-politician who took over Prime Minister’s office in August 2018 denied that Pakistani soil was being used for attacks on India.
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“How can one country’s leadership be the Judge, Jury and Executioner… what sort of justice is this,” he questioned.
“It is easy to start a war but difficult to end it. I want to ask India if they want to live in the past. It’s not in our interest that somebody from here goes out to do terrorism, nor that somebody comes here and does terrorism.”