Pak NSA blames US on Kashmir: 'Nuclear war a real possibility'

Omer Farooq Khan

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The Pak NSA accused India of stockpiling a range of dangerous weapons and threatning Pak of conventional warfare. He criticised the US role in the region, and said that Washington was "speaking India’s language" He said the US was willing to give India a bigger role in Afghanistan, a claim most Pakistani authorities have been making. ISLAMABAD: Peeved at the US for backing India on the Kashmir issue, Pakistan's National Security Advisor (NSA) Lt Gen (retired) Nasser Khan Janjua, warned on Monday that nuclear war in South Asia was a real possibility.

"The stability of the South Asian region hangs in a delicate balance, and the possibility of nuclear war cannot be ruled out," media quoted the NSA (to Prime Minister Shahid Khan Abbasi) saying at a seminar on national security policy in Islamabad.

"India has been stockpiling a range of dangerous weapons and threatens Pakistan continuously of conventional warfare," Janjua said, adding that security in South Asia was under pressure.

Criticising the US role in the region, the NSA said that Washington was "speaking India's language" and that the two nations share identical stance on the Kashmir issue. "The US is following the Indian policy on the longstanding Kashmir dispute," he remarked.

The US, Januja said, was willing to give India a bigger role in Afghanistan, a claim that most Pakistani authorities have been making ever since US President Donald Trump announced his new Afghanistan strategy.

Washington blames Islamabad for supporting and sponsoring terrorism in the region by retaining its ties with the Haqqani network and the Taliban. But Januja said terrorism emerged in Pakistan only after the country decided to support the US and the West. "Pakistan has paid a heavy price in its fight against terrorism but the world never recognised its losses," he said.

The NSA claimed that the US, in its opposition to the rise of China and Russia, has disrupted the balance of power in South Asia. "As part of its (US) policy to counter Chinese influence in South Asia, the US is conspiring against China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) along with the Indians," he said.