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Updated: Aug 30, 2019 23:45 IST

Pakistan will give a “befitting response” to the Indian government if it attacked Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to divert attention from alleged human rights abuses in Jammu & Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday, hours after the New York Times published an opinion piece in which Khan stressed that talks with India can happen only if New Delhi “reverses” its Article 370 decision.

“Every brick will be countered with a stone,” Khan said in a speech at a rally in Islamabad as Pakistan observed “Kashmir Hour” to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people.

“We are warning the world that India will do something grave in Azad Kashmir,” he said. “I want to tell you, Narendra Modi, that we will give a befitting response. Our armed forces are ready,” he added.

Noting that he had warned the world community that India could launch an attack on PoK, Khan said any conflict between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India wouldn’t be confined to South Asia.

“The international community must know that any conflict between two nuclear-armed countries will be destructive for the entire world,” he said, adding he would raise the issue when he addresses the UN General Assembly in September.

There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government to Khan’s remarks. Indian officials earlier said Pakistan’s leadership in resorting to “war-mongering” and painting an alarmist picture as part of efforts to internationalise the Kashmir issue.

In the opinion piece in The New York Times, Khan wrote that talks with India can happen only if New Delhi “reverses” its decision on revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, ends restrictions and withdraws troops to barracks.

Khan also repeated his warning that if the world does nothing to stop India’s decision on Kashmir, “there will be consequences for the whole world as two nuclear-armed states get ever closer to a direct military confrontation”.

He wrote: “With the nuclear shadow hovering over South Asia, we realise that Pakistan and India have to move out of a zero-sum mind-set to begin dialogue on Kashmir, various strategic matters and trade. On Kashmir, the dialogue must include all stakeholders, especially the Kashmiris.”

Khan added: “Through dialogue and negotiations, the stakeholders can arrive at a viable solution to end the decades of suffering of the Kashmiri people and move toward a stable and just peace in the region. But dialogue can start only when India reverses its illegal annexation of Kashmir, ends the curfew and lockdown, and withdraws its troops to the barracks.”

On Friday, Pakistani cities came to a standstill and many places witnessed the largest such demonstrations in support of Kashmir in many years.The nationwide protests began at noon. Rallies were held in almost all cities, towns and villages.