Imran again offers dialogue, warns against miscalculation

Imran again offers dialogue, warns against miscalculation
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Highlights

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday offered talks to India and urged that better sense should prevail as tensions spiked between the two nucleararmed neighbours following an aerial engagement between their air forces

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday offered talks to India and urged that "better sense should prevail" as tensions spiked between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following an aerial engagement between their air forces.

Khan's comments came after New Delhi said it shot down a Pakistan fighter jet in the aerial engagement between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) but lost one of its MiG-21s, with its pilot in Pakistani custody.

Pakistan, however, announced earlier in the day that "it had shot down two Indian fighter planes on its soil, captured two pilots and carried out bombings in the neighbouring country while avoiding human loss and collateral damage".

Pakistani military authorities later clarified that they were holding only one Indian pilot. That pilot was identified as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. As Pakistan claimed capturing the pilot, a video was circulated by Pakistani accounts showing a man in uniform, blindfolded and wounded.

Pak Prime Minister said in a televised address to the nation: "Our action was only intended to convey that if you can come into our country, we can do the same. Two of their MiGs were shot down... From here, it is imperative that we use our heads and act with wisdom. "All wars are miscalculated, and no one knows where they lead to. World War I was supposed to end in weeks, it took six years. Similarly, the war on terrorism was not supposed to last 17 years.

"I ask India: With the weapons you have and the weapons we have, can we really afford a miscalculation? If this escalates, it will no longer be in my control or in (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's. India-Pakistan ties took a solid beating after the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on February 14 that killed 40 CRPF troopers in Kashmir.

On Tuesday, IAF jets bombed the JeM's biggest training camp in Balakot, killing a large number of terrorists and their trainers.

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