india

Updated: Jan 13, 2020 06:31 IST

A day after Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane said his force will seize control of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), if the government orders, the Pakistan Army on Sunday dismissed his statement as a “routine rhetoric for domestic audiences”.

“As far as PoK is concerned, there was a parliamentary resolution many years ago that the whole of erstwhile J&K is a part of India. If Parliament wants that area should be ours at some stage and if we get such orders, we will definitely act on those directions,” General Naravane had said while addressing a press conference on Saturday.

Chief spokesperson for Pakistan Army, Major General Asif Ghafoor took to Twitter to respond to the remark, saying: “[The] statements by [the] Indian COAS to undertake military action across [the] LoC are routine rhetoric for domestic audiences to get out of ongoing internal turmoil.”

General Naravane “knows full well the situation in the region and the capability of the Pakistan Army. He was part of the Indian force on Feb 27 as well. So he’s not new,” the DG ISPR added.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office also denounced General Naravane’s statement as reckless, saying: “We reject the new Indian army chief’s irresponsible statement regarding ‘pre-emptive strikes’ across the LoC inside Azad Jammu and Kashmir.” Indian leadership should not be mistaken “about Pakistan’s resolve and readiness to thwart any aggressive Indian move, inside its territory or AJK”, the FO added.