Srinagar: Pakistan on Saturday asked India not to underestimate its nuclear capabilities and if New Delhi wishes to test it, then it should.
Pakistan-run PTV World quoted Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor terming the Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat’s statement “irresponsible” and “unbecoming” of someone who was serving on the “important position.”
“Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state having vigilant national and professional army and India should not misunderstand it,” he said, responding to a remark by the Indian army chief that his country’s armed forces were ready to call Pakistan’s “nuclear bluff”.
Asked what Pakistan’s response would be if India resorted to any such misadventure, Maj Gen Ghafoor said: “Should they [India] wish to test our resolve they may try and see it for themselves. We have a credible nuclear capability exclusively meant for threat[s] from [the] East.”
Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat had said on Friday that the Indian army would not hesitate to cross the Pakistani border to carry out an operation if asked by the government, Hindustan Times reported.
“We will call the (nuclear) bluff of Pakistan. If we will have to really confront the Pakistanis, and a task is given to us, we are not going to say we cannot cross the border because they have nuclear weapons. We will have to call their nuclear bluff,” Gen Rawat was quoted as saying.
The ISPR chief said Pakistan considers its nuclear capability to be a “weapon of deterrence” and not an option for war, according to a statement issued by the military’s media wing.
He said India was unsuccessfully targeting Pakistan through sub-conventional threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” because it could not subdue Pakistan through conventional engagement following overt nuclearisation in the region.
“[The] only thing stopping them is our credible nuclear deterrence as there is no space of war between the two nuclear states,” he said. (Courtesy dawn.com/Pakistan Radio)
