Not worried about any threat from India: Air chief

Sohail Aman says Pakistan does not want war but knows well to respond in the face of any aggression

Chief of  Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman on Thursday said Pakistan is not worried about any threat from India.

“We are not worried about India at all,” Sohail Aman said while speaking at the ninth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS). “India should show restraint and instead solve the issue of Kashmir as that would be better for them,” he added.

Aman further said that Pakistan does not war but can ignore this kind of pressure [from the enemy]. “We are well capable of responding in the face of any aggression,” he upheld.

Sohail Aman went on to add that Pakistan had readied all of its [battle] plans following threats from India after the militant attack in Uri sector. The Air chief also said that Pakistan, engaged in Operation Zarb-e-Azab has a battle hardened military to respond to threats.



Indian forces targeted a passenger bus in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, killing at least nine people and wounding another nine. Seven Indian troops were also killed in retaliatory fire when the former opened fire on the Line of Control (LoC) and killed three Pakistani soldiers.

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan will not tolerate deliberate targeting of innocent civilians particularly children and women, ambulances and civilian transport. Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite continuing ceasefire violations from Indian security forces along LoC, he added.

The bus en route to Muzaffarabad from Kel was hit by Indian mortars near the Lawat Kanari Bala area of Neelum Valley, some 99km from the AJK capital. Pakistani troops retaliated to the unprovoked shelling by attacking Indian posts and other strategic positions, killing seven Indian soldiers.



However, three Pakistani soldiers – Capt Taimoor Ali Khan, Havildar Mushtaq Hussain and Lance Naik Ghulam Hussain – were killed in the exchange of fire.

Later, Army chief General Raheel Sharif held a special meeting at the Corps Headquarters in Rawalpindi to review the situation and termed deliberate targeting of innocent civilians as unprofessional and unacceptable.