ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday warned India against any misadventure, saying such a move would evoke a prompt telling response from Pakistan.

“Beware, beware, remember February (2019) and be ready for a quick retaliation while casting an evil eye on us,” he said while speaking in the Senate.

Addressing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, he said the Pakistani nation could not be cowed down by Indians.

He said there was a complete unanimity in the country over the Kashmir issue and matters concerning the country’s sovereignty, integrity and prestige.

Referring to the situation in Ladakh, he said Indian soldiers were suffering casualties there.

Claims no walkover was given to India during UNSC election

“There is a dramatic shift in the region. China has openly landed in the arena against India,” he said and pointed out that the conflict was drawing blood now.

He also referred to telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart a day before and said he was aware of the Chinese approach.

He said Nepal, which was thought to be completely under India’s influence, was now making claims on some disputed areas with India while Sri Lanka and Bhutan also had their objections.

“Afghanistan also thinks India is impeding reconciliation process there,” Qureshi claimed.

“India is facing isolation and is under pressure,” he said.

He said in the aftermath of coronavirus pandemic, India was close to economic collapse.

He said that India was more connected to the international financial markets because of being a much bigger economy than Pakistan and it was thus suffering losses in economic terms much more than Pakistan.

He said keeping in view all these factors, India could launch a false-flag operation.

Responding to remarks of opposition Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed in the house, Qureshi asserted that Pakistan had not given a walkover to India to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

He said Pakistan did not abstain but voted against the non-permanent membership of India.

“Though it was a secret balloting, Pakistan openly said that it had voted against India for the last year’s August 5 unconstitutional steps it took in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and for violating the UN Charter, UNSC resolutions and international norms.”

The foreign minister said that it must be understood that there was a process to become a non-permanent member of the Security Council. He said the membership was given on rotational basis for two years and recalled that Pakistan and India both had held this seat for seven times each. He said India’s non-permanent membership would not change the stance of the United Nations on Kashmir dispute as all world bodies had recognised it a disputed territory.

He said India had been campaigning to become a non-permanent member since 2013 while Pakistan had also started its campaign to become the non-permanent member for 2025-26.

He said that India had already got commitments from the Asia Pacific Group and had Pakistan contested the election at the eleventh hour, it would have been against the diplomatic norms.

Earlier, PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed taking part in the budget discussion while referring to development in Ladakh said that China had taught a lesson to India which the latter would remember forever. He said that Indian side had been putting continuous pressure on Pakistan and now they had got a strategic space and a political breather. He accused the PTI government of giving a walkover to India to become a non-permanent member of the UNSC.

He said that voices were now being raised from within the government over the disturbing development and referred to a tweet by Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari.

“Question for Pakistan is why we ensured that no one else from the region contested? There was a contest on the African seat. Why did we agree to Indian nomination made much earlier? What is very disturbing is the number of votes India managed to get,” Mazari tweeted on Thursday.

In another tweet she noted that letting India win the vote ‘uncontested’ gave its actions quasi political legitimacy.

Sayed said that Prime Minister Imran Khan offered help to Modi to fight coronavirus, but he did not like to see Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah during his visits to Karachi.

He said more and more mafias continued to emerge during the PTI’s government and the oil mafia was a fresh addition to them. “They are in the corridor of power right under their nose,” he remarked.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2020