Pakistan holds right to self-defence, befitting response: FM Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response to Indian aggression, after Indian military aircraft violated the Line of Control (LoC) earlier today as they intruded from the Muzaffarabad sector but were forced to return owing to the timely response of the Pakistan Air Force.

“We kept on telling the world that this could happen… they [India] carried out aggression against Pakistan today. India violated the LoC [today]. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response,” Qureshi told media, after chairing an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office to discuss the situation arising from the intrusion.

The foreign minister informed that Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned a meeting at 11am today to review the situation arising from the LoC violation by India. 

The meeting at the Foreign Office was attended by former foreign secretaries and senior diplomats, and held consultations over the prevailing situation. 

Indian military aircraft violated the LoC as they "intruded" from the Muzaffarabad sector and were forced to return owing to the timely response of the Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said early Tuesday.

"Indian aircraft intrusion across LoC in Muzafarabad Sector within AJK was 3-4 miles. Under forced hasty withdrawal aircraft released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow," Major General Ghafoor wrote on Twitter. 

He also tweeted images of the "payload of hastily escaping Indian aircraft" which "fell in [the] open".

The incursion into the Pakistani air space follows a series of threats by Indian political and military leadership following the attack on an Indian Army convoy at Pulwama by a local youth, in reaction to the oppression unleashed by the occupational forces.