Reacting to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement on the Pulwama attack, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, 19 February, said, “I would not want to say how our government is going to respond to this as no word is sufficient enough to assuage the anger and disappointment of every person of the country.”
Days after the Pulwama attack that claimed lives of 40 CRPF jawans, Khan during a conference on Tuesday had said that Pakistan will take action against the perpetrators if India provides “actionable intelligence.”
He had also stated that the Indian government should engage in talks and discussion and warned that Pakistan will retaliate if India considers an attack.
Hours after Sitharaman’s statement, Union Minister Arun Jaitley hit out at Khan for not making even a "pretext" of outright condemnation of the Pulwama attack and showing not even "lip sympathy" for the bereaved families.
We’ll Arrest Masood Azhar If You Can’t: Amarinder Singh Warns Pak
Hitting back at Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder cautioned Pakistan, saying their government should take Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar into custody, or else India would.
“Dear Imran Khan, you have Jaish chief Masood Azhar sitting in Bahawalpur and masterminding the attacks with ISI help. Go pick him up from there. If you can’t, let us know, we’ll do it for you,” he said on Twitter.
During another interaction with the media the same day, Singh said that India should retaliate if Pakistan kills our soldiers.
“If even one of our jawans is martyred, we should kill two of theirs (Pakistan). This is the only language they will understand. We’ve already said that whatever steps the (central) government takes, we will support.”Captain Amarinder Singh, Punjab CM
Walk the Talk: Mehbooba to Imran Khan on Pulwama Attack
Respoding to Khan’s statements, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said that Pakistan was not being blamed for the Pulawama terror attack without any evidence and asked its Prime Minister Imran Khan to “walk the talk.”
However, Mufti said Khan deserves a chance since he has recently taken over the reins of the country.
"Disagree. Pathankot dossier was given to them (Pakistan) but no action was taken to punish the perpetrators. Time to walk the talk," Mehbooba said in a tweet.
"But Pak PM deserves a chance since he has recently taken over. Of course the war rhetoric (in India) has more to do with the impending elections that anything else (sic)," she added.
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