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Pakistan Charges India Is Planning Cross-border Military Attack

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Pakistan charged Friday that its archrival India
   was plotting to stage a cross-border military assault against the
   Islamic nation, warning such an attempt would destabilize the region
   with "catastrophic consequences."

   Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi cited "credible intelligence
   information" Islamabad had"picked up," saying it hadbeen shared with
   "important world capitals." He did not name any country, nor did he
   offer any evidence to support the claim.

   "I want to tell India very clearly that Pakistan is fully prepared to
   respond and to defeat their designs. We will do it effectively,"
   Qureshi told a news conference in the United Arab Emirates at the end
   of his two-day official bilateral visit.

   Qureshi alleged the Indian government was orchestrating the attack to
   divert attention from domestic troubles facing India and urged the
   international community to intervene to prevent New Delhi from
   destabilizing the region.

   India has not immediately responded to the charges.

   Islamabad has repeatedly put out such warnings since New Delhi revoked
   the semiautonomous status of disputed Kashmir in August 2019,
   escalating military tensions between the two countries.

   The nuclear-armed neighboring countries both claim the Himalayan region
   in its entirety and have fought several wars as well as limited
   conflicts over Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

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