'Dangerous situation': India's 'act of war' demonstrates it's in a 'mood for military adventurism'

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Hello, everyone. I'm François Picard. Pakistan has accused India of igniting an inferno in the

00:15region. At least 38 killed on both sides of the border in fighting that brings the nuclear-armed

00:21neighbors to the brink of all-out war for the first time since 1999. Indian forces say they

00:27targeted nine facilities linked to Islamist militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

00:34Pakistan vowing a response. Kemi Knight has more.

00:39In the town of Muzafarabad, residents carry the coffin of a victim killed in an overnight

00:44missile attack and place it in an ambulance. India launched deadly strikes in Pakistan and

00:51Pakistan administered Kashmir on Wednesday, targeting what it calls terrorist infrastructure.

00:56Pakistan says civilians and mosques were hit across several locations.

01:02Everyone was asleep. And then there was a sound of an explosion. Our neighbor and his daughter

01:08were injured in the attack. They barely managed to reach the hospital late at night.

01:15The attack comes in response to gunmen storming an Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir last month,

01:21killing 26 people, mostly Indian tourists. Delhi blames Pakistan for backing the militant

01:26attack, which Islamabad denies. Despite a fortnight having passed since the attacks,

01:31there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan to take action against the terrorist infrastructure

01:38on its territory or on territory under its control. Instead, all it has indulged in are denials

01:44and allegations. Pakistan has called it an act of war and says it shot down five Indian Air Force jets

01:52and a drone in self-defense. India saying several of its civilians were killed by Pakistani shelling.

01:57It is India which cowardly attacked Pakistan and violated our territorial integrity and sovereignty.

02:07Pakistan reserves the right and will respond to this aggression at a time, place and means

02:16of our own choice. Tensions between the two nuclear armed neighbors have long been high in the Kashmir

02:23region. India, which has a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, which is mostly Muslim, each control

02:28parts of Kashmir but claim it in full. The UN Secretary General says the world cannot afford a military

02:33confrontation between the two powers. And joining us is Pakistan's ambassador to France, Mumtaz

02:40Zahra Balosh, as well as France 24's Lila Jacinto from our international affairs desk. Thank you for being

02:46with us, Your Excellency. Thank you. Is this the closest we've been to all-out war since 1999?

02:50It is a very dangerous situation right now. It is a reality that what we have been warning against for

03:01the last several days that India is in a mood for military adventurism. It has come true. Last night,

03:10they conducted these strikes in Pakistan. They had civilian targets. Civilians were killed. Civilian

03:18institutions and civilian infrastructure was hit. So it is a very dangerous situation. It is, and we

03:27consider it as an act of war. And as you know, under international law, Pakistan has a right to defend

03:33itself. The Pakistani prime minister talking about corresponding actions to what India has done. What

03:41would corresponding actions be? You see, I would not telegraph the military strategy here,

03:47but Pakistan has said that we know how to defend ourselves. And we are going to respond to the

03:56Indian attack and the Indian aggression. It is a targeted attack against Pakistani civilians. A large

04:06number of Pakistanis were killed last night. And there was an attack against a hydropower project,

04:14hydropower plant in Pakistan. Yesterday, commercial aircraft was endangered when these missiles were

04:23hitting Pakistan. So Pakistan has a right under international law to respond and there will be a response.

04:29I actually have a question. Considering the response, which is often in the course of this

04:35conflict been calibrated, the strikes, overnight strikes this time also targeted sites in Punjab,

04:44not just in, you know, remote border regions and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

04:51So my question is twofold. How significant is this and how significant would that be in terms of a

04:56Pakistani response? And then where do we go from there?

04:58You see, as I said, we will not telegraph how we are going to respond. But Pakistan has a right to

05:06respond to this belligerent act. And yes, yesterday, there were sites, we would call them phantom sites,

05:16that India hit, because in the end, the victims were all civilians. We have seen the photographs.

05:22All of them civilians.

05:23You have seen the videos. There were civilians who have been killed. There were children who were

05:28killed. There were these civilian, the mosques, the houses which have been targeted. And then this

05:35power plant which was targeted. And the Indians themselves have said that military targets were

05:43not hit. So this is a very serious situation. It is a question of international law, but it is also a

05:49question of international humanitarian law that a country can just disregard international law and

05:56target civilians in this manner. This is very, very unfortunate.

05:59So, I mean, the Indian authorities are saying that, especially the two sites in Punjab, they say are

06:05linked to groups that have since been banned, Lashkari Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, and that they were

06:11close to their headquarters or official sites. Are you saying that these groups do not exist, that the

06:19what was in place of these sites?

06:21What I'm saying is that these are Indian claims. And what India is saying is that it does not matter

06:29if you do not look at the ground reality. Ground reality is that civilians have been killed. There

06:36are children who have been killed. Women have been killed. Pakistan is an open country. Journalists have

06:43been to these hospitals. Their footage has come out and there are civilians who have been killed.

06:49So these are not terror camps? These are phantom

06:55camps that they have said that these are terror camps. And if an attack such as this happens,

07:00the dead bodies, the dead bodies would not be of civilians, would not be of children and women.

07:07So the Indians have been using the boogie of terrorism since 2001. They think this is a narrative

07:16that sells. And they wanted to basically come to Pakistan and prove to their public

07:28that they were capable of reaching Pakistan and targeting sites inside Pakistan, maybe

07:34to ensure their own people that they had that capacity. We do not know their mindset. But we do

07:45know their habits. They have done it in the past. And they have used the boogie of terrorism in the past.

07:51So using this time, again, the blame of terrorism against Pakistan, this is not new for us.

07:59The spark of all this, though, is this terror attack that took place in a tourist site in Indian

08:06administered Kashmir, 26 killed. How do you explain what happened?

08:11No, that is up to India to explain what happened.

08:15Because they claim it is the hand of Islamabad.

08:18That is their claim. They have to explain to the world what happened. They have to bring out evidence.

08:24We are waiting to see the evidence. Pakistan has actually said that we have offered to have an

08:33independent and transparent inquiry into this by a third party, independent party. Pakistan is ready

08:42for that. Because we are very sure that when such an inquiry takes place, such an investigation takes

08:49place, the results will show that Pakistan has nothing to do with it. Pakistan right now has two key

08:55priorities. It is our economy. And it is fighting terrorism that is threatening Pakistani lives on a

09:02daily basis. That is our priority. That is the priority of our arms forces. So it does not make sense that when

09:09these are our priorities, we go and do something in an area which is controlled by India and occupied

09:19by India and create problems there. When we are ourselves focused on economic development of Pakistan

09:29and security for Pakistani people.

09:31And just to be clear, when you say phantom sites, what does that mean precisely?

09:35Because they are saying these are terror sites. They are not terror sites. If there were terror sites,

09:41you would have seen dead body of terrorists.

09:45The question now is that of diplomacy at this point. How to prevent it from getting worse.

09:51Who to turn to? Who is that third party that can come in and help cool our heads to prevail?

09:56You see, since 23rd of April, Pakistan has been calling on the international community,

10:04all powers, international powers, all friends of Pakistan, all friends of India, the United Nations,

10:14that they call on India to exercise restraint. Pakistan's foreign minister today went and briefed

10:21in person China's ambassador. Is China the interlocutor who can resolve this? After all,

10:26they too neighbor Kashmir. We have, as I said, we have asked everyone to

10:35ask India to basically impress on them to desist from this. But now this has happened.

10:42Now it is up to the international community to hold India accountable. It is the, under international

10:49law, it is the United Nations Security Council, which has a responsibility to uphold peace,

10:54to uphold the UN charter, to uphold international law. So we are expecting and we are hoping that the

11:01United Nations Security Council, the permanent five members, France, because it is also a permanent member

11:12of the Security Council. They have a huge role to play and ensure that international law is upheld,

11:20and to make sure that powerful countries do not violate international law in this manner.

11:27Have you been in personal contact with French authorities about this? We heard the statement

11:32earlier from President Macron, the German chancellor. Yes, we have been in contact with the French

11:37authorities. And I personally have also been in contact with the French foreign office.

11:41What was the tenure of the discussion? Can you tell us?

11:44I would not go into the details, but we are having very constructive discussions with the French

11:49authorities. A broader question to finish, Mumtaz Zarabalosh. How, this just keeps simmering all the time.

11:58This is, there was, the last time was five years ago. What's the prospect for, for some kind of end game

12:08to all of this, that there really is peace in that region? You see, you are absolutely right. This is

12:15an issue that has been between Pakistan and India for last several decades. And the core contestation

12:25is the Kashmir question. And because of this Kashmir dispute, this animosity between Pakistan and India

12:33that continues to grow with every generation. And it is very important, therefore, that the international

12:40community plays a role to basically settle this question. Because both countries need to focus on

12:47their own people. Pakistan needs to focus on our people. It is a developing country. We need to focus

12:55on our education, on health care, and look after our people, develop our economy. So that should be the

13:04priority of actually both countries. And taking away this contestation that is between the two countries,

13:12on Kashmir. Resolving this dispute can really bring a big change in South Asia.

13:19All right. I want to thank you so much, Ambassador Mumtaz Zarabalaj, for being with us here on France 24.

13:25Thanks as well to Leela Jacinto. By the way, later at 8 p.m. Paris time, Mark Owen will be speaking with

13:31India's former ambassador to France, Jawed Ashraf. So stay tuned for that.

13:36Do you want to look at all in the comments below that?

13:49Yeah.

13:50Yeah.

13:51Yeah.

13:51So if you if you do hope that's very important,

13:54if you have an American UST id, I tell you about it so I definitely thought you are the

14:01you the leaders of Mexico to finish now in a room, to on a box and tell you that.

14:01That has some things from that, butre the turn if you didn't about it so I'm not always

14:02about it so well as your name.

14:04You know right now, let me try that.

14:05Yeah.

14:05So you can figure that.

14:06I don't even know how hard.

Category

Transcript

Recommended