00:00Eman of the Pakistan People's Party, former foreign minister,
00:03son, of course, of the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as well.
00:06Good to have you with us.
00:06Your reaction to the developments of the last few hours, please.
00:10Thank you. Thank you for having me.
00:12First, I offer my condolences to the victims, to the families of those martyred
00:18in this late night cowardly attack by Indian forces,
00:23to the men, women and children who have died.
00:27Let us be absolutely clear.
00:31This was an unprovoked, deliberate act of war by India,
00:35who launched missile, drone and airstrikes into Pakistani territory.
00:41Over the past two weeks, Pakistan has been on the receiving end
00:46of belligerent threats by the Indian government.
00:49We have time and time again insisted that our hands are clean
00:55and offered an impartial inquiry to any and all accusations.
01:01Unfortunately, India rebuffed those offers by Pakistan
01:05and have chosen instead to target innocent civilians.
01:11Pakistan reserves the right under the UN Charter to respond.
01:15The Prime Minister of your country and the armed forces have been authorised
01:21to undertake corresponding actions.
01:23What should we expect?
01:25What do you expect your country, your military, to do in response?
01:29So far, the Pakistan armed forces have acted bravely and with precision.
01:35In self-defence during these attacks, we downed five Indian aircraft.
01:40India's attacks took place in Pakistani territory,
01:46targeting cities where innocent civilians live,
01:50civilian infrastructure, including a dam.
01:54Pakistan does reserve the right to respond at a time of its choosing,
02:01at a place of its choosing and through whatever means it chooses to do so.
02:06I would not second-guess the government or the armed forces,
02:10or pre-guess the government or the armed forces' decision at this time.
02:14In the past few hours, we've heard from Masoud Azhar,
02:17leader of Jaichul Mohamed,
02:19an international terrorist as designated by the UN Security Council.
02:23Jaichul Mohamed, banned by your country,
02:25banned by the UN and by many other nations as well.
02:28He says family members and at least four of his aides,
02:32he says these are his quotes,
02:33have been killed in the Indian strikes.
02:35It surely will serve as vindication from India's perspective
02:39that it was targeting terrorist elements that were in your country.
02:42This is absolute fiction.
02:44It has been rebuffed.
02:45I'm correcting your quote that originates from fake news
02:50circulating on Pakistani social media
02:52and has been rebuffed by local or receptive journalists
02:56who are impartial and have a long history on this matter.
02:59India has manufactured a lie of a baseless accusation against Pakistan.
03:07If there was any truth to this lie,
03:09why did they not agree to Pakistan's offer for an impartial investigation?
03:13Why did they not wait for the international journalists
03:15who were already visiting these alleged sites to come up with their response?
03:20The truth is that India has manufactured this lie to target Indian civilians.
03:25It is not 2001.
03:26It is not 2003.
03:28Not all Muslims are terrorists.
03:29And the world is sick and tired of the way in which this accusation is bandied about
03:34to justify aggressive actions, to justify illegal actions,
03:37to justify imperialistic actions.
03:40And Pakistan, for one, will not kneel to such pressure.
03:43Do you think there is the potential for that independent investigation
03:48as you had called for, or do you think that has now passed?
03:51Pakistan has repeatedly called and continues to call for an impartial inquiry.
03:55We do so because our hands are clean.
03:58We were not involved in this attack.
04:01We condemned this attack from the outset.
04:03If India was certain of Pakistan's involvement,
04:07if India had nothing to hide,
04:08then they too would have agreed in the past to our call for an independent inquiry.
04:14And I reiterate today on your program,
04:16Pakistan's readiness for a neutral, impartial inquiry
04:19into the terrorist attack that took place in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
04:24Donald Trump has responded.
04:25The international community is responding.
04:27We've heard reaction from the Turks, for example.
04:29Do you welcome international support?
04:31And if so, who's best placed to try and de-escalate the situation?
04:35I think India has once again endangered the peace,
04:38not only in South Asia, but in the region of the world.
04:44And I think there is a role for the international community to play
04:47to ensure that this situation doesn't keep festering itself.
04:52I think the first step absolutely would be to engage with India
04:56and ensure that sanity prevails.
04:59But we have to go beyond that.
05:00We have to reiterate or join in Pakistan's call
05:03for an impartial, neutral inquiry that can form the basis,
05:06not only to come to the roots of this terrorist attack,
05:09but any future terrorist attack.
05:11Or do Pakistan and India want non-state actors,
05:14want terrorists to be those who decide the fate
05:16of the populations of both our countries?
05:18I think that Pakistan's call for an impartial inquiry
05:20is a sound one, is a reasonable one.
05:23It forms a pathway not only for us to come out of this immediate crisis,
05:27but also a road back to come out of future such terrorist attacks.
05:32We cannot normalise this practice that has become increasingly practiced
05:37in international affairs, that without any proof,
05:40without any evidence, countries conduct illegal strikes.
05:45I'm sorry to stop here, but we are at the top of the hour.
05:47We're about to run out of time.
05:48But thank you for your time.
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