LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Saturday said Pakistan would befittingly respond, if war was imposed.
“We do not speak for war, but we will respond if war is imposed on us,” Sheikh Rasheed said while talking to media in Lahore. He said Muslims believed in Jihad-e-Akbar and they did not fear death.
He said the prime minister and chief of army staff were “tyres of the same vehicle”.
To a query, he said the decision to suspend Samjhota Express and Thar Express trains was taken after much deliberation. He said the trains would remain suspended until he was the railways minister.
All ways of negotiations with India have been closed, the minister said adding that Pakistanis also had as much right over Kashmir as Kashmiris themselves. He asked youth to play their roles in struggle for Kashmir’s independence.
Sheikh Rasheed said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s one wrong decision would turn Lal Chowk into cemetery.
He announced to visit Neelam valley after Eid and address the nation on Independence Day night.
The long-standing conflict of Kashmir has resulted in fierce horrific wars and continuous border tensions between Pakistan and India. The two countries which were carved out of the subcontinent in 1947 also conducted nuclear tests because of the more-than-70-years-old dispute, which has become a nuclear flashpoint.
The Indian government on August 5 announced to repeal the special status given to the occupied Kashmir under the constitution’s Article 370 and Section 35 A, and bifurcated the region into two Union Territories – Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The arbitrary move is feared to spark unrest in the disputed territory.
