No immediate threat of war with India: Pakistan premier

KARACHI, 23 Jan 2020 [Fik/News Sources]: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of any “all-out” war between archrivals, Indian, and Pakistan. 

However, he warned, that New Delhi might stage a “false flag operation” in line with 2019 suicide attack in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which killed over 40 Indian soldiers, to ignite a further tensions.

India had accused a Pakistan-based banned Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group of carrying out the attack.

Khan’s remarks came at the International Media Council in Davos, where he is attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, local broadcaster Geo News reported.

It came a day after Khan met with U.S President Donald Trump at the sidelines of the forum to discuss a string of regional and international issues, including the human rights situation in India-administered Kashmir.

Although, he said, the two nuclear neighbors were not close to an all-out war, the international community, including the UN, "must act" to avert tensions between the two sides from hitting “a point of no return”.

"You cannot have two nuclear-armed countries even contemplating a conflict," he said.

Accusing New Delhi of perpetrating a reign of “state terrorism” in the disputed region, he said his country had serious concerns over the deteriorating situation in the valley.

“I have also informed President Trump of that [concerns]”, he added.

The fresh flare up in already heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals was sparked by New Delhi’s scrapping of the longstanding special rights of the India-administered Jammu and Kashmir in August last year.

India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought two wars over Kashmir.