Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Tuesday that Pakistan will not initiate hostilities with India, but if provoked, it will respond with full force, following recent Indian allegations after the Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Addressing the Senate, Dar said Pakistan had nothing to do with the recent incident in Pahalgam, where 26 tourists were killed in an armed assault. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, an accusation Islamabad has categorically denied.
“We will not start anything,” Dar told lawmakers. “But if India takes any action, we will respond with a befitting reply - brick for brick.”
Updating the Senate on the diplomatic outreach following the incident, the DPM said Pakistan had briefed the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, China, the UK, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Hungary, informing them of India’s history of false flag operations and escalating rhetoric.
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He expressed concern that the attack could be part of a broader ploy to create justification for unilaterally withdrawing from the Indus Waters Treaty - a longstanding water-sharing agreement between the two countries.
“I suspect this entire drama has been orchestrated to provide a pretext for scrapping the Indus Waters Treaty,” he said.
Dar noted that Pakistan’s key allies, including China and Türkiye, had extended their support.
“The Chinese foreign minister assured us of their support, and Türkiye’s foreign minister asked how they could help. I informed him that if India is planning any action, this time our response will be decisive.”
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He added that India had failed to provide any credible evidence linking Pakistan to the Pahalgam incident.
“We are responsibly pursuing diplomatic efforts while India is busy levelling baseless accusations.”
Regarding the treaty, Dar revealed that India had written to Pakistan indicating that “circumstances have changed” and that it was suspending the Indus Waters Treaty - a move Dar said the National Security Committee has already deemed “tantamount to an act of war.”
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Referring to the Pulwama incident in 2019, Dar reminded the Senate that India had similarly used that attack as a pretext to revoke the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Commenting on the international response, Dar said the United States had issued a joint statement in which he raised two objections: the omission of “Jammu and Kashmir” about the Pahalgam attack and the condemnation of the United Resistance Forum.
“We made it clear that Pakistan had no link to the Pahalgam attack, and our position was acknowledged,” he said.
The Deputy Prime Minister reiterated that Pakistan remained committed to peace but would not compromise on national sovereignty.
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