A day after India’s warning, Pakistan says ‘Indian aggression won’t go unpunished’

NewDelhi: Reacting to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s warning to Pakistan, Islamabad said on Tuesday that any “Indian aggression” will not go “unpunished”.

“Any Indian aggression, strategic miscalculation or misadventure regardless of its scale, mode, or location will not go unpunished and shall be met with an equal and proportionate response. We will defend robustly every inch of Pakistan’s soil,” Khurram Dastgir, Pakistan’s Minister for Defence said.

On Monday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had blamed Pakistan for the terror attackat the Sunjuwan military camp in Jammu and Kashmir and had made it clear that it will pay the price for the “misadventure”.

She had asserted that even though evidence of Pakistan’s role may be shared, India still reserved the “right to respond adequately at the time our choosing”. “Pakistan will pay for this misadventure. I repeat Pakistan will pay for it,” the Defence Minister had told reporters in Srinagar.

“I would not certainly set a timeline but Pakistan will pay for this misadventure. I can only assure the people of J&K and the entire country that the Army, both the governments at the state and the centre, are definitely looking at it with all seriousness,” she had added.

Asked whether the government was sharing evidence with Pakistan, Sitharaman had replied in the affirmative.

“Yes, all the evidence which have been collected will be compiled and definitely the evidence will be given as always to Pakistan. But Pakistan, inspite of being given dossiers after dossiers, has not taken any action,” she had said.

Sitharaman had further said that giving evidence to Pakistan would have to be a continuous process because it has to be proven over and over again so that their involvement is there for everybody to see.

She had also said that intelligence inputs suggested that terrorists who attacked the Sunjuwan camp were controlled by handlers from across the border.

A group of heavily armed men struck the sprawling camp of the 36 brigade of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry before dawn on February 10, 2018. Five Army men, including two Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs), were martyred in the attack.