Srinagar
The government on Thursday said that Pakistan is trying to create a ‘Kandahar type’ pressure and said that there is no question of any deal with Pakistan and expect Islamabad to return Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman” immediately”, reported ANI quoting sources.
“Pakistan is trying to create a Kandahar type pressure but India will not give in, there will be no deal or talks on Wing Commander Abhinandan Vartaman’s release,” sources said quoting the government.
The sources said that India has asked Pakistan to treat the pilot in a “humane manner”.
On the question of the possibility of talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart, the government said that Islamabad needs to provide “immediate, credible and verifiable action against terrorism before the possibility of any such action. “Imran Khan should now walk the talk on dealing with terrorism,” the government said.
The India government has not asked for consular access for the captured pilot and added that it expects Pakistan to return him immediately, reported ANI.
“India did not target any civilians or military installations, but Pakistan escalated by targeting Indian military installations. India did not deliberately cross LoC, very strong demarches have been given. India has foiled Pak attempts at creating a war psychosis,” the sources added.
On Pakistan government’s request for “actionable intelligence” on the involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the Pulwama attack which left 40 CRPF personnel killed, the government said that considering Pakistan’s denial of previous terrorist attacks on India, no information was provided to Islamabad.
“India did not consider giving actionable intelligence earlier as Pakistan has not acted in past on actionable inputs on Mumbai and Pathankot. Terrorists were caught, audio has given, access given to forward posts in Pathankot. However, Pakistan remained in denial. Thirteen days after Pulwama, they still deny JeM’s role in the attack,” the sources were quoted as saying by ANI.
The Indian government said that Pakistan is trying to create a “war hysteria”. “We are ready for talks on Kartarpur. They (Pakistan) had called it off just as they had closed airspace and stopped Samjhauta Express. We are trying to appear reasonable, they are creating a war hysteria,” the sources said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Pakistan is willing to consider returning the captured Indian pilot if it means de-escalation of ties between the two countries, news agency ANI reported quoting Geo News.
