Pakistan's defence minister Khwaja Asif on Saturday warned that his country would attack India's eastern metropolis of Kolkata if the neighbour attempted any “false flag operations”. The comments came after India's defence minister Rajnath Singh earlier warned India's “neighbours” against carrying out any “misadventures".
Speaking to reporters in his hometown of Sialkot, Asif said, “If India tries to stage any false flag operation this time, then God willing, we will take it to Kolkata,” news agency PTI reported.
He further said, “If India plans some false-flag operation through their own men or through the Pakistani people in their detention by planting bodies somewhere and claiming they were terrorists who had done so and so, Pakistan will take it to Kolkata."
The remarks by the Pakistani minister come after Rajnath Singh on Thursday issued a stern warning of decisive action to India's "neighbour" in the event of any “misadventure” carried out by it. He did not name Pakistan.
The warning was issued by Rajnath Singh as the West Asia conflict continued to expand, triggered by Israeli-US attacks on Iran in February.
{{/usCountry}}The warning was issued by Rajnath Singh as the West Asia conflict continued to expand, triggered by Israeli-US attacks on Iran in February.
{{/usCountry}}Also read: ‘Never refused to go to Islamabad’: Iran expresses openness to Pak-mediated talks with US
Rajnath Singh warned against ‘misadventures’
“Our neighbour, in the current situation, can commit any misadventure. If it does so, India's action will be unprecedented and decisive,” Rajnath Singh said.
Speaking at a Sainik Samman Sammelan in poll-bound Kerala, the defence minister also added that Operation Sindoor is not over yet. Singh was referring to Operation Sindoor launched by India in May last year, responding to a deadly terror attack a month earlier in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. India struck terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK. Operation Sindoor strikes led to a four-day military conflict after Pakistan launched drones and missiles towards India.
“The way terrorists targeted people on the basis of religion in Pahalgam… the attack was not just on India but on the country's social unity and social fabric,” Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.
Also read: India was 'minutes away' from striking Pakistan from sea during Operation Sindoor: Navy Chief
In another development, Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday claimed to have busted a Pakistan-linked sabotage and espionage module and arrested four persons. The accused were allegedly working at the behest of handlers across the border to spread terror and disrupt public order in the state.
Officials said the accused were intercepted before they could execute a plan to set fire to a railway signal box near Kharkhauda railway station in Meerut, HT reported.