Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Reacting strongly to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s alleged remarks on Kashmir being a "flashpoint for another Indo-pak war", Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with Bhartiya Janta Party condemned such a remark.
While Singh had said that there was no possibility of Pakistan winning any war against India in his "lifetime", Bharatiya Janata Party has warned that the South Asian neighbour must stop harping on its "Kashmir raag", even as the PMO`s office in Islamabad denied that any such controversial remark had been made.
"Nawaz Sharif should not challenge us. We are not afraid. We warn Pakistan, it should stop repeating its Kashmir `raag`, the BJP said reportedly.
The BJP was joined by others like Union Minister Farooq Abdullah and JD(U) leader KC Tyagi in slamming Pakistan over the comment allegedly made by Nawaz Sharif, as quoted by The Dawn.
While Farooq Abdullah said that Nawaz Sharif was making such statements only to please Pakistan, the senior JD (U) leader KC Tyagi took a dig at Pakistan saying, "After facing defeats in previous wars, don`t know how Nawaz Sharif made such a statement, he must refrain from making such remarks", reports said.
"Kashmir is a flashpoint and can trigger a fourth war between the two nuclear powers at anytime," the Pak daily Dawn quoted Sharif as saying while addressing `Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council` in Pak-occupied Kashmir yesterday.
PM retaliates on Sharif`s remark
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said there was no possibility of Pakistan winning any war against India in his "lifetime".
"There is no scope of Pakistan winning any such war in my lifetime," he told reporters.
He was reacting to a reported statement of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a daily newspaper that Kashmir is a flash point which "can trigger a fourth war" with India.
Sharif `strongly denies` Kashmir flashpoint remarks
However, Nawaz Sharif`s Office denied that the Prime Minister had made any such comment.
The Pakistani PMO issued a statement that read, "Prime Minister of Pakistan never uttered these words and the news item is baseless, incorrect and based on malafide intentions."
Also, the press release issued by his office last night did not carry the statement as reported by the Dawn.
The statement had however quoted Sharif as saying that the Kashmir issue should be settled according to the aspirations of the people and the UN resolutions as peace in the region was not possible without it.
"The Prime Minister said that he had a dream of seeing held-Kashmir free from the Indian occupation and desired that this dream could turn into reality during his lifetime," the statement said.
About Indo-Pak relations, the Prime Minister categorically reiterated that it was India which indulged in the arms race, it said.
"We were drawn into arms race by India," he said.
Speaking on Kashmir row, Sharif had "expressed his dismay at the contradictory stance taken by the Indian government".
