ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, has said that the threat of war still exists, and if war is imposed, the entire nation will respond more strongly than before.
Khawaja Asif made these remarks during an interview with a private TV channel. He stated that the Shimla Agreement is no longer relevant and that the Line of Control (LoC) should now be considered a ceasefire line. He added that the status of the ceasefire line and the LoC must be re-evaluated, as the region has effectively reverted to the situation of 1948.
The Defence Minister further noted that Pakistan does not intend to initiate any conflict and regional countries are pressuring both Islamabad and New Delhi to maintain peace. He also said that the banned terrorist organization Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its handlers are based in India, and that India is among the countries opposing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
It is worth mentioning that the Shimla Agreement was signed between Pakistan and India after the 1971 war by former Prime Ministers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Indira Gandhi. The agreement stipulated that both countries would resolve all disputes bilaterally and would not take any unilateral actions.
Pakistan maintains that India violated the Shimla Agreement in 2019 when it unilaterally abrogated Article 370, stripping Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir of its special status.
