PM reiterates offer for dialogue

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday reiterated his offer for dialogue to India over Pulwama incident to de-escalate tension and resolve all outstanding issues including terrorism, saying that all wars are miscalculated and no one knows where they lead to. "If a war takes place, it will not be in my or Narendra Modi's control," the Prime Minister said while addressing the nation hours after Pakistan Air Force shot down two Indian Air Force jets after they crossed the Line of Control, the de facto border between the nuclear-armed neighbours. The Premier said: "Better sense should prevail. We should sit down and talk."
Referring to the Pulwama attack in the occupied Kashmir on February 14 wherein over 40 paramilitary troops were killed, he said that Pakistan had offered India to carry out investigation if actionable evidence is provided. "Our action was only intended to convey if you can come into our country, we can do the same," he said, referring to Pakistan's airstrikes. Addressing his Indian counterpart NarendraModi, the Premier said, "With the weapons you have and the weapons we have, can we really afford a miscalculation?"
Khan said that Pakistan has suffered over 70,000 casualties in the last ten years in the war on terror and he knew the feelings of the families who lost their dear ones in the Pulwama incident. "That is why I offered investigation into the incident," he said, adding that it is not in interest of Pakistan to let its soil be used against any other country.
"I had feared that India will act due to its election compulsions and I warned them against aggression and warned that we will be compelled to respond as no sovereign country can allow the violation of its sovereignty," he said. "When India attacked us yesterday we did not respond in haste to avoid casualties on their side. I spoke with my Army Chief. We took time to take action as we wanted to ascertain our damages first. We were ready to take action today," he said.
Advising India to exercise wisdom, the Prime Minister said, "All wars in the world have been miscalculated; those who started the wars did not know where it would end. The World War-I was supposed to end in weeks, it took six years. Similarly, the US had never expected the war on terrorism would last for 17 years."