Pakistan offers to ‘wrap up tensions’ if India withdraws aggressive stance

Islamabad, May 7: Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the current tensions and escalated confrontation between India and Pakistan can come to a halt only if New Delhi backs out of its aggressive position.

Asif's remarks came after India launched "Operation Sindoor", targetting nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) striking alleged terror hideouts.

Pakistan also claimed to have responded to Indian airstrikes with counter-offensive measures along the Line of Control (LoC).

Speaking to an US media company, Asif said that Pakistan holds the right to respond to any aggression by India, insisting that Islamabad "was only responding" to India's attacks and should not be seen as the aggressor in the current conflict.

"This has been initiated by India. If India is ready to back down, we will definitely wrap up this tension," he said.

"As long as we are under attack, under fire, we have to respond. We have to defend ourselves. But if India backs down, we will wrap up this tension", the Pakistani Defence Minister added.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt. General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that at least 26 people have been killed and 46 others injured in the airstrikes that New Delhi said were conducted on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Punjab province.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who will address the nation on Wednesday afternoon, called an emergency National Security Committee (NSC) meeting at the Prime Minister's House to discuss the current security situation in the country, and the future course of action against India.

The crucial meeting will formulate policy and also contemplate on the interventions by global powers, including the United States, which has called on both sides to show restraint and de-escalate the fast-aggravating tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

The Indian strikes and Islamabad's retaliation has jolted locals who fear that it could potentially lead to a full-scale war between the two countries.

--IANS