Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar Thursday said that Pakistan's defense capabilities have never been compromised while scrapping military budget for one year.
Speaking at a conference titled 'Nuclearization of Indian Ocean: Implications for South Asian Strategic Stability and Environmental Safety,' organized by South Asia Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) University, Azhar said that the cut in military expenditure for one year was .largely done with the help and cooperation of the military in terms of freezing and limiting the pay scales of its officers. "So, the defense capabilities of Pakistan are in no way compromised and the budget was scrapped very carefully because we understood the current security dimension in Pakistan. Let me assure you that there is no way that any of our defence capabilities have been compromised or will be compromised," he asserted. He pointed out that nuclearization of the Indian Ocean by New Delhi should be a matter of concerns not only for the regional countries but also for the rest of the world.
"Unfortunately, India has nuclearized the Indian Ocean heavily which is a common heritage and it a collective responsibility of all nations to preserve the common heritage and prevent India from nuclearization of the ocean," he added.
He said that Pakistan has no desire to engage in the arms race with India or any other country in the region and it believes in resolving the outstanding issues peacefully through dialogue.
He said that India's unilateral abrogation of the Article 370 and 35-A of its constitution is an attempt to escape from the just resolution of the issuer of Jammu and Kashmir, adding that these actions are contrary to its longstanding stance to resolve the issue through dialogue. He asserted that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is not a bilateral dispute between Pakistan and India, but it is an international dispute, adding that it was India which took the matter to the UN Security Council and it has been remained on the agenda of the Council for the last seven decades. He said Pakistan will continue highlighting the Kashmir issue at every relevant forum until the dispute is resolved as per aspirations of the Kashmiri people in light of the UN Security Council resolutions.
He pointed out that Kashmiris have been facing the worst genocide at the hands of Indian occupation forces and there has been complete communication blackout and lockdown since the Modi government undertook the illegal actions on August 5.
He said that Occupied Kashmir has become the most militarized zone on the earth with about 900,000 Indian troops in the held territory. He regretted that the world is silent over the gross human rights violations in the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Zahoor Ahmed, Additional Secretary (Asia Pacific) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while speaking said that Pakistan never introduced the new technology in the region rather it is India which introduced the nuclear technology in South Asian region in 1974. Currently, he added that India under Prime Minister Modi is rapidly nuclearizing the Indian Ocean region by introducing the nuclear submarines and arming with submarine launched ballistic missiles. He stated that Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state and is pursuing credible minimum deterrence policy.
Air Marshal Shahid Akhtar Alvi (retd) speaking on the military dimensions warned that the war in Kashmir cannot be limited to Kashmir and it will have repercussions for the region and beyond. He pointed out that India is still living in the post-Pulwama attack and no lesson was learnt from the events of February 27 when Pakistan shot down two Indian planes. He said that Pakistan exercised a great restraint when India first violated Pakistan's airspace on February 26. "Had there been a more powerful response from Pakistan Air Force (PAF), more Indian planes might have been downed and India, in humiliation, could have resorted to a much larger scale of aggression," he said, adding that in such a scenario, Pakistan's response could have been with the same force and that might have escalated to a full-scale war.
Referring to the heavy deployment across the border, he said that war clouds are hovering over the region and urged the international community to step in and prevent India from the provocative steps and put pressure on the Indian government to immediately remove the blockade. He said that people of Kashmir and Pakistan are closely watching the ongoing session of UN General Assembly and hoping the world to play its role.
Dr Maria Sultan, chairperson and director general SASSI, highlighted the massive nuclearization of the Indian Ocean by New Delhi and its repercussions for the whole region and beyond.
She said the South Asia's regional stability is under tremendous threat due to belligerent policies pursued by the India under fascist Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is challenging peace in the region, and is a threat to international peace and security.
She stated that the illegal revocation of the article 370 and 35A by the BJP government is a flagrant violation of United Nation Security Council Resolutions, Geneva Convention and the UN charter but more so it has made the 9 million Kashmiris stateless not through war but through legislation, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill, 2019.