Pakistan will never start war with India, says Imran Khan as tensions mount

‘Both Pakistan and India are nuclear powers and if tension escalates the world will face danger,’ said Imran Khan

Pakistan will never ever start a war with India, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday, amid tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over Kashmir.

“We will never ever start the war. Both Pakistan and India are nuclear powers and if tension escalates the world will face danger,” Khan said while addressing a gathering of the Sikh community at the Governor’s House here. Khan said that war is not a solution to any problem. “I want to tell India that war is not a solution to any problem. The winner in war is also a loser. War gives birth to host of other issues,” he said.

India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together. Early this year, tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured Indian pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.

Tension between India and Pakistan recently escalated after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Reacting to India’s move on Kashmir, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian High Commissioner…

Imran Khan considering closing Pakistan airspace to India: Minister

Pakistan closed its airspace on February 26 after Indian fighter jets struck an alleged terrorist training camp in Balakot.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering a complete closure of airspace to India and blocking Indian land trade to Afghanistan via Pakistan, Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Twitter.

#Modi has started we’ll finish!,” wrote Chaudhry, who handles the Science and Technology Ministry.

“PM is considering a complete closure of Air Space to India, a complete ban on use of Pakistan Land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan was also suggested in cabinet meeting, legal formalities for these decisions are under consideration,” he wrote.

Pakistan closed its airspace on February 26 after Indian fighter jets struck an alleged terrorist training camp in Balakot in retaliation for an attack on paramilitary soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama. The airspace was reopened for civilian flights on July 16.

Air India, the country’s flag carrier, operates around 50 flights daily through Pakistani airspace. Prime Minister Khan said on Monday he will protest India’s decision to end Kashmir’s autonomy at international forum, including at the UN General Assembly next month.

World Bank retains projections for India’s economic growth at 7.5%

For the current fiscal year, the growth is quite high, given the fact that India’s economy grew just 6.8 per cent in 2018-19, a five-year low

After the feeble total national output (GDP) information, India has something to cheer about. The World Bank has held projections for India’s monetary development at 7.5 percent for the current financial year even as it cut worldwide monetary extension by 0.3 rate focuses. In its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank, be that as it may, pegged the development at a similar pace of 7.5 percent for the following two financial years.

For the current monetary year, the development is very high, given the way that India’s economy became simply 6.8 percent in 2018-19, a five-year low. Likewise, the development dove to 5.8 percent in the final quarter of the financial year, additionally a five-year base. Additionally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had prior sliced financial development of India to 7.3 percent from prior projection of 7.5 percent. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) pegged the development at 7.2 percent.

World Bank holds projections for India’s financial development at 7.5%

Without naming Pulwama fear assault and Balakot strike, the Bank made a reference to these episodes among India and Pakistan. “Engagements among India and Pakistan in February are an update that dormant geopolitical pressures can erupt whenever,” the Bank said. The Bank said venture rate in India was relied upon to develop at a slower pace in 2019 than in 2018. It, in any case, said speculation development was relied upon to stay strong as advantages of ongoing strategy changes additionally appeared.

“Private utilization and speculation will profit by fortifying credit development in the midst of progressively accommodative money related approach, with expansion having fallen underneath the Reserve Bank of India’s objective,” it said.

Pak military takes foreign media, diplomats on tour of Balakot seminary

According to reports, the group was flown from Islamabad in a helicopter to Jabba in Balakot

International News: Pakistan military on Wednesday took a group of international media personnel and foreign diplomats on a tour of the seminary and its surrounding areas in Balakot, where India carried out a counter-terror operation on JeM’s biggest training camp 43 days ago. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14.

Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. According to BBC Urdu, the group was flown from Islamabad in a helicopter to Jabba in Balakot. They visitors trekked for about one-and-a-half hour to reach the madrassa on the top of a mountain surrounded by lush green trees.

The group, while going up, also saw a ditch on a hillside where India jets dropped its payload, according to Pakistan military. About 150 students, aged 12-13, were present inside the seminary building and were being taught Quran when the group reached inside the madrassa, they said. The visit by the group lasted for about 20 minutes and the participants were allowed to take pictures and even some of them spoke to the teachers present there. Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor held formal and informal chat with the reporters.

“This is an old madrassah and has always been like this,” he said, indicating that Indian claim of hitting it was not true. This was the first formal visit of foreign media and diplomats to the place about which India claimed that its strike killed scores of militants..

Indian Navy rejects Pak claim of detecting submarine, calls it ‘propaganda’

Indian Navy says it’s ‘deployed as necessary’ after Pakistan says submarine made ‘provocative actions’.

India Pakistan Conflict: With the Indian Air Force (IAF) and army already having exchanged blows with the Pakistani military, Pakistan has now accused the Indian Navy of “provocative actions against Pakistan.”

A Pakistan Navy statement on Tuesday claimed “one of the latest submarines of the Indian Navy” was detected on Monday, operating off Pakistan, and “could have been easily engaged and destroyed had it not been Pakistan’s policy to exercise restraint in the face of Indian aggression and to give peace a chance to prevail.”

Pakistan claims this is the second time an Indian navy submarine has been detected in Pakistani waters, after an incident on November 14, 2016, when the “Pakistan Navy caught Indian Navy submarine operating in Pakistani EEZ (exclusive economic zone).” Soon after the Pakistani statement, a video emerged on social media, purporting to be of the detected Indian submarine. It quickly emerged this was a fake video, produced by a Pakistani television channel in 2015.

International maritime law permits vessels from all countries, including warships, to operate freely in international waters, including in other countries’ EEZs, which extend 200 nautical miles from their coasts. A country’s territorial waters extend only 12 nautical miles from its coast; and, even in those waters, vessels from other countries enjoy the “right to innocent passage”.

IAF hit the target in Balakot; we don’t count kills: Air Chief BS Dhanoa

Air Chief said it was up to the goverment to calculate the number of casualties in the strike

India Pakistan Conflict: Speaking on air strikes carried out by Indian Air Force (IAF) across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa on Monday said that the IAF had hit the target in Balakot, otherwise why would Pakistan Prime Minister have responded.

“If we dropped bombs in the jungles, then why would he respond?”, said Dhanoa.

He further added saying, “Death toll depends on the number of people present in the target, IAF doesn’t count the number of dead”, said the IAF chief. “IAF is not in a position to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don’t count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not”, clarified Dhanoa.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said that MiG21 used in shooting down Pakistan F-16 is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system and the casualty figure in air strike on Balakot camp will be given by the government.

When asked when IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman will be back his fighter jet cockpit, IAF chief Dhanoa said, “Whether he (Wing Commander Abhinandan) flies or not depends on his medical fitness.

That’s why post-ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit,” he said. All required treatment will be given to Wing Commander Abhinandan, Dhanoa said.

The Air Force, Dhanoa said, has to get its act together and find out what caused the mid-air clash ahead of the opening of the Bengaluru air show on February 19 and helicopter crash in Kashmir last week.