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Pakistan has warned that there is a real danger of nuclear war with India if tensions between the neighbors continue to escalate.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif issued the chilling warning in an interview with Pakistani TV channel Geo News late Wednesday, insisting that the nuclear war threat was “clear and present.”
“Pakistan has faced such threats before and [the] region could once again be on brink of a strategic standoff,” he said.
Asif had earlier vowed that Pakistan would defend itself if necessary after India struck its neighbor with a barrage of missiles Wednesday in the worst clash between the two nuclear-armed countries in more than two decades.
“We have been saying all along the last fortnight that we will never initiate anything hostile toward India. But if India attacks, we’ll respond,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday said it had shot down 25 drones from India in its airspace as the tit-for-tat bloodshed raged on.
India, though, said it “neutralized” Pakistan’s attempts to strike military targets with drones and missiles.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from Britain in 1947 — with the countries fighting three wars and clashing countless times.
Both acquired nuclear weapons in the 1990s.
President Trump has urged both sides to stop the violence, calling the escalating conflict “so terrible.”
“My position is, I get along with both. I know both very well and I want to see them work it out,” Trump said.
“If I can do anything to help, I will be there.”
With Post wires
English (US)