Pakistan to retaliate if India targets civilian population: DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI: DG ISPR Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said that Pakistan army would be compelled to retaliate if India targeted civilian population. “DG MO has given an undertaking to his Indian counterpart about respecting the 2003 ceasefire agreement and Pakistan army is committed to uphold it. But we will give a befitting response if Indian army hits our civilian population,” Asif Ghafoor briefed media at GHQ. “India should decide how it wants to proceed. We are two nuclear powers and there is no space for war,” he said. “Our job is to respect the ceasefire agreement, we will not respond to the first bullet fired by Indian at us. But if civilians are the target, we will be forced to retaliate,” he said.“We request the Indian army and media to defuse tense situation,” he said. “Recently I had interaction with SAARC journalists including Indians. We took them to North Waziristan.”“They asked a question that a high-profile incident happens in India whenever ties are improved between Pakistan and India. I told them you have witnessed only two incidents such as Mumbai attacks while Pakistan has faced thousands of such incidents,” he said,” adding Kulbhushan Jadhav is one such example of Indian involvement in fomenting violence.India, he said, carried out more than 15, 00 ceasefire violations in 2018 alone.The DG ISPR said that there were 71 incidents of cross-border terrorism ever since Pakistan started fencing its border with Afghanistan. “There is no organized militant network, including Haqqanis, in Pakistan. We now want respectful repatriation of Afghan refugees from our country,” he added.He said that even Americans realize that there was significant after military operations in Waziristan. The DG ISPR said that Hazara community expressed its joy when LeJ commander Salman Badeni was killed in Balochistan. He said that terror incidents dropped after the killing of Salman Badeni. FATA, he said, was now a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and everybody should work to build it.PTM talksMaj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said that he had personally met PTM  members including Mohsin Dawar and Manzoor Ahmed. "I held a separate meeting with Mohsin Dawar and Manzoor Pashteen and then arranged their meeting with military officers to resolve their issues," he said."Dawar sent me a text and thanked me for addressing his issues. But all of a sudden, hundreds of social media accounts were created to launch anti-Pakistan propaganda," he said. "How could so many caps were made? How could foreign media start telecasting their protests live? Thankfully, local media ignored their propaganda," he said. Ghafoor said that Chief of the Army Staff had strictly advised the forces to avoid use of force against PTM's members. "We now have strong evidence to prove that PTM is being exploited by foreign elements," he said. In Wana, PTM people started anti-army slogans, he said, adding that people from peace committee asked them to stop chanting before a clash broke out between them. "Army helicopters were used to transport the injured people to hospitals. But unfortunately, they started sharing a fake photograph of some girl being shot.  There was no such casualty in Wana.""It doesn't affect us if you make false claims on social media. The people of Pakistan greatly respect armed forces because of the sacrifices they have given in the war against terrorism."He said that "our focus is on the job and we should not deviate from it."Pakistan army is the only force which has won the war against terrorism, he said. "Whoever wears uniform be it police, army, FC, Rangers is part of us. They all are in the line of fire and they are doing it for the country."The army chief spokesman has urged critics not to undermine the country's sacrifices to build their own career.In Karachi, he said that people must reject a  politico-criminal nexus . Social media launches propagandaAsif Ghafoor said that thousands of fake accounts were set up on social media to launch a propaganda. "We need to check what to tweet and what no to. Social media is a lethal threat to young generation than the grown-ups," he said. He said that some accounts being run in the name of army or defence institutions were reported to FIA for action. "Pakistan army is a national force and we cannot afford a discord or division in the country," he added.