A Pakistani political leader has condemned India for the recent sharp escalation of tensions between the two neighboring countries.
India and Pakistan are on the brink of a wider conflict after India on Wednesday launched strikes on both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. India said it targeted "terrorist infrastructure" in the wake of a tourist massacre in India-controlled Kashmir last month, in which 26 people were killed.
Pakistan's military said at least 31 people were killed in India's attacks.
In response, Pakistan's defense minister said that the country's military had shot down five Indian fighter jets in air-to-air combat with Indian forces.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), criticized India's aggressive behavior and vowed that Pakistan has the right to respond and will take action.
"Pakistan has responded and will continue to respond to any such forms of aggression. The Indian government and the Indian armed forces, they have been responded to in the sense that we defended ourselves to this unwarranted aggression during the attacks. Under the UN charter, Pakistan has the legal international right to respond to these aggressive actions by our neighbor," he said.
While India claims it targeted "terror infrastructure," Zardari rejected the claim, arguing that India is only using false pretenses to divert attention from its own internal issues.
"They (India) try and divert attention from any internal problem, terrorist attacks, security lapse, either to the Muslims within their own country or the Muslims in their neighborhood, which just so happen to be Pakistan. India has manufactured a lie about the fictional training camps and fictional terrorist infrastructure to justify an attack. They have still been unable to name any terrorists involved in the attack that took place in Indian-occupied Kashmir a couple of weeks ago, nor have they been able to name a single terrorist that they have targeted in their so-called operation within Pakistan. The truth is that India has targeted civilians," he said.
Zardari also expressed concern about India's unwillingness to engage in dialog with Pakistan, despite Pakistani government's attempts to initiate discussions.
"India's attitude has made it very difficult for constructive dialog to take place or any dialog to take place at all, for that matter. India has refused to engage in dialog with Pakistan on any issue, even though the new [Pakistani] government, as soon as it took over power before any such terrorist attack, made countless overtures to India that they were willing to engage in dialog, to resolve all our issues. India refused," he said.
Zardari also called for the international community to intervene, hold India accountable, and help find a solution to the issue.
"My message for the international community is that they must play their role to guard the international institutions and international law, all of which India is violating. This is now a global issue as the threat of a war between two nuclear armed nations obviously has global consequences. So I call on the international community to intervene, to hold India accountable for their actions of the last 24-48 hours, to join in Pakistan's demand for an international impartial inquiry into the terrorist incident, so I think there is a path forward. For the international community, for the region, [there is] a role to play and to guide India and Pakistan towards the path of peace and prosperity, not to more conflict, more confrontation, and potentially war," said Zardari.
Pakistani political leader condemns India for recent escalation of tensions
