Will pay India in its own coin for misadventure: Pak

Islamabad, February 13

Pakistan on Tuesday warned that it will "pay (back) India in its own coin" in case of any misadventure as it rejected Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's remarks that Islamabad was behind the deadly terror attack on a military camp in Jammu.

A group of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists had struck the Sunjuwan Military Camp in Jammu on Saturday, killing seven people including six soldiers.

Defence Minister Sitharaman yesterday blamed Pakistan for the terror attack on the military camp and made it clear that Islamabad will pay the price for the "misadventure".

Responding to Sitharaman's remarks, her Pakistani counterpart Khurram Dastgir Khan today said Islamabad "will pay (back) India in its own coin in case of any misadventure".

"Instead of the knee-jerk reaction of blaming Pakistan without substantiation, India must answer for state-sponsored espionage against Pakistan," Khan said in a statement.

He was referring to Indian prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of terrorism.

"Pakistan's armed forces are fully prepared to defend the country and any Indian aggression, strategic miscalculation, or misadventure regardless of its scale, mode, or location will not go unpunished and shall be met with an equal and proportionate response," Khan was quoted as saying by Dawn.

In a statement, the Foreign Office today said that the "familiar Indian tendency" of apportioning blame to Pakistan, without a shred of evidence, is "regrettable".

"The Indian allegations are premature and inopportune, especially as India itself admits that the operation still continued and investigations had just started, when these comments were made," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

"We have repeatedly seen India arrogating to itself the role of judge, jury and executioner. The reflex assignment of blame and smear campaigns, based on unfounded allegations, carry no credibility," he said, adding that the tone of Indian defence minister was "deplorable".

"More deplorable is the threatening tone of the Indian comments that achieves nothing, but further vitiates the already tense environment marked by unprecedented ceasefire violations by India on the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary," he said.

The spokesman also said Pakistan is fully committed and capable of defending itself against any act of aggression. — PTI