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Rs 20.00 | Vol XV No 294 | 8 Pages | Lahore Edition
PAKISTAN NOT TO INITIATE BUT WILL RESPOND TO ANY INDIAN ESCALATION: DAR
I
ISLAMABAD
Saleem Jadoon
N the midst of heightened tension between Pakistan and India, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammed Ishaq Dar on Wednesday reiterating its commitment not to initiate, warned India of a strong response if it made any escalatory move as its armed forces were on alert to defend the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “The world leaders have been requesting the exercise of restraint in recent days. I have made it very clear, on behalf of the government and the nation, that Pakistan will not be the first one to resort to any escalatory move. However, in case of any escalatory move by the Indian side, we will respond very strongly,” DPM Senator Ishaq Dar stated. FM Dar was addressing a news conference alongside Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt-General
Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry Foreign Office and spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan in Islamabad on Wednesday. Brushing aside the Indian allegations against Pakistan following the Pahalgam incident without an “iota of evidence and with such dramatic speed,” he said Pakistan had nothing to do with it. “We demand an independent and transparent probe by neutral investigators, as announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Any TORs in this regard should be credible and mutually agreed upon. “Pakistan has neither any connection … nor is the potential beneficiary. At a time when the economy is stabilising and we are making significant progress against terrorism, we need to question why this situation is being created by India all of a sudden and what is the motivation behind it,” Dar posed a question.
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PM Shehbaz urges Rubio to impress upon India to ‘act responsibly’
ISLAMABAD (Staff RepoRt): “Terming India’s escalatory and provocative behavior as deeply disappointing and worrisome,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday urged United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio to impress upon India to “dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly,” amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear arch-rivals in the wake of the Pahalgam attack. A statement issued from the Prime Minister’s Office later Wednesday, said the premier received a telephone call from Rubio in the evening in which Shehbaz “urged the US to impress upon India to dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly”.
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DPM REITERATES DEMAND FOR INDEPENDENT, NEUTRAL PROBE INTO THE INCIDENT UNDER CREDIBLE AND MUTUALLY AGREED TORS