Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Thursday said that the current security situation in the region underscores the compulsion for Pakistan to remain ever vigilant for more traditional threat to national security emanating from hegemonistic ambitions of India.
Qureshi told a webinar, organised by Arms Control and Disarmament Centre (ACDC) at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of Pakistan's becoming a nuclear power that May 28 serves as an earnest reminder of the country's desire for peace as well as the nation's unswerving resolve to defend its territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
He said that "Yaum-e-Takbeer" was being commemorated against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which threatened the international community without regard to geographic boundaries, ethnic, political and religious divides.
"Yet, unfortunately, the current security situation in South Asia underscores the compulsion for Pakistan to remain ever vigilant of the more traditional threat to national security emanating from the hegemonistic ambitions of a larger neighbour under the rule of an ultra-nationalist and revisionist regime," he added.
He pointed out that the recent escalation along the Line of Control (LoC), incessant ceasefire violations, and the canard of cross-border infiltration were designed to divert international attention from the gross human rights violations by the Indian Occupation forces in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Qureshi said that the BJP government's illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 in an attempt to change the internationally-recognised disputed status of occupied Jammu and Kashmir and alter its demographic structure - in flagrant violation of the Security Council resolutions, UN Charter and bilateral agreements - have engendered further volatility in South Asia.
He pointed out that the irresponsible statements made by senior members of the BJP government, including on nuclear issues and threats of dismemberment, leave little doubt about the reckless mind-set at work.
"The flawed notion of establishment of a 'new normal' and fantasies of 'punishing Pakistan', while remaining below the threshold of a nuclear conflict demonstrate irresponsible and dangerous behaviour by India," he said.
He added that the world witnessed a demonstration of this belligerent military posture in February 2019, when in the wake of the Pulwama incident in occupied Kashmir, there was an attempt to resort to aggression against Pakistan on a completely false pretence.
While responding effectively in self-defence and deflating exaggerated notions of military superiority, he said that Pakistan exhibited restraint and responsibility.
However, it is not always possible to predict the trajectory of escalation in similar situations and Pakistan should not be expected to one-sidedly carry the burden for maintaining peace, he added.
"Pakistan is a peace-loving country. Our conduct as a nuclear weapon state will continue to be defined by restraint and responsibility. As we seek to ensure our national security, credible minimum deterrence remains our guiding principle," he said, adding that Pakistan was opposed to a nuclear or conventional arms race in the region.
He asserted that Pakistan had demonstrated its commitment to peace and stability by putting forward the proposal for a Strategic Restraint Regime (SRR).