Islamabad — Speaking to a private TV channel following the press conference of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Senator Sherry Rehman issued a strong statement condemning his hostile posture and misinformation campaign against Pakistan.
“Modi’s demeanour and words today exposed a reality he is having trouble digesting, that Pakistan defeated him squarely in a war that he started.”
“Modi’s tirade against Pakistan is delusional. It is addressed at his political critics that are growing in huge numbers. Pakistan will always seek to stabilise the region but not at the cost of water, state and anti-Kashmir terrorism,” Senator Rehman said.
Referring to recent attempts by the Indian government to link alleged acts of terrorism to a pretext for military aggression, Senator Rehman warned of the dangerous precedent being set. “For now India is trying to engineer a shift in global perception by equating an ‘act of terror’ with an ‘act of war.’ We will not let them normalise such a heinous plan. Modi is the one who evades due process. Pakistan has already made sure that he can’t get a free pass to avoid accountability. There can’t be violations of sovereignty whenever he feels like it. What they did for three days amounted to war crimes and international terrorism but Pakistan still sought to cool down tensions until we were dragged into responding, because we believe that war solves no problems. But obviously we will use our conventional deterrence against any aggression on our sovereign territory and people. We exercised our right of self defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. What was Modi doing ? Striking at innocent civilians and creating war hysteria without responding to our offer of a neutral investigation. “
Senator Rehman called for a robust, calm, clear response from Pakistan. “Pakistan must respond—clearly, loudly, and unapologetically. I need not remind people that Kalbushan Yadev is a serving military officer caught fomenting terrorism on Pakistani soil, in Balochistan in fact. So it is Modi’s Bharat that has fingerprints all over the terrorism we are fighting in Pakistan.”
Senator Rehman concluded with a strong call for clarity and deterrence: “Our position should be very clear—counter with clarity, credibility—and deterrence. Let it be a clear contrast to their orchestrated war of embarrassing misinformation with cold hard facts presented along with evidence. The world is paying attention. Pakistan has certainly not been the aggressor in the war Modi lost. We have always sought constructive dialogue, and never glamorised war, which sadly Modi has perfected as a political campaign pitch. “
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
