Pakistan should not be expected to exercise restraint if there is a strike on its nuclear installations by India, foreign minister Khawaja Asif said on Thursday, suggesting a full-scale nuclear retaliation. Asif was reacting to Indian Air Force chief BS Dhanoa’s remarks that New Delhi could “locate, fix and strike across the border” to counter Islamabad‘s tactical or battlefield nuclear weapons. Asif read from the reported remarks before making his own comments at a Washington think tank event. While answering a question on relations with India, Asif pulled out a folder that contained clippings of Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa’s statement, which was a conceptual one about the IAF’s reach. Asif also argued earlier that it was Pakistan which wants peace and former premier Nawaz Sharif had made the first move in 2014 by travelling to India, and that India had not followed up.

Source: Hindustan Times October 05, 2017 17:15 UTC