NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday Pakistan has been taught a “befitting lesson” with the Indian Army “shutting their mouth,”
Modi’s statement comes after a lull in fighting between India and Pakistan after days of heavy shelling and gun battles across the border.
“Pakistan has got a befitting lesson. They will not dare to repeat it again. Our jawans have shut their mouth,” he said addressing an election rally in Maharashtra.
Modi also slammed Congress for targeting him over his government’s response to Pakistan’s aggression.
“Congress is busy issuing statements over what is happening on the Pakistan border. This is not the time for empty boli‘ (talk) by them, but for goli (bullet) by our jawans,” he said.
Modi upped the rhetoric saying India’s soldiers had “responded to the aggression with courage,” and described Pakistan as “the enemy”.
On Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that war with India was not an option, but that Pakistan would respond with “full force” to any attempt to challenge its sovereignty.
Nawaz added, “It is shared responsibility of the leadership of both countries to immediately defuse the situation.”
Earlier today, Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry, said, India will respond to Pakistan appropriately and it is in Pakistan’s hands to de-escalate the border conflict.
Akbaruddin’s statement comes a day after Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley warned Pakistan that it would be made to pay an ‘unaffordable’ price if the clashes continued.
Jaitley claimed that Pakistan was responsible for the surge in violence along the Line of Control and working boundary. “If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable,” Jaitley told journalists in New Delhi.
“Pakistan should stop this unprovoked firing and shelling if it wants peace on the border.”
India’s defence minister added that his country had a “duty to defend its people”, as he accused Pakistan of trying to “precipitate tension where none exists.” Border Security Force (BSF) sources claimed Pakistani Rangers targeted 50 border outposts and 35 hamlets overnight along the 192-km boundary.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam has called upon India to allow the United Nations military observer group to visit the Line of Control to investigate the recent ceasefire violations.
The escalation has triggered an exodus, with 20,000 people moving to safe areas from border villages.