Jaitley asks Pakistan to weigh cost of its‘adventure’

Defence minister Arun Jailtey today asked Pakistan to properly weigh the costs even as that country continued with the shelling of innocent people in Jammu and Kashmir. He also warned Pakistan that its adventurism will soon become "unaffordable" for it.

"If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable," Jaitley who has just been discharged from hospital said.

He said Pakistan had made a series of "unprovoked" violations of the 2003 ceasefire on the border in the last few days.

"These have mostly been on the international border and some have been at the Line of Control (LoC) also," he pointed out.

"The international border has never been an issue at all and most of these violations are occurring at the international border.

"India is a responsible state. It is never an aggressor but at the same time it has a paramount duty to defend its people and its territory," said Jaitley.

"Our armed forces, particularly the army and the BSF (Border Security Force) in this case, have only one option... that is to respond adequately and defend our territory and our people.

"Our forces have been doing a commendable job in the face of these unprovoked acts of aggression by Pakistan," he claimed.
 
Pakistan was "clearly been the aggressor. But it must realise that our deterrence will be credible", the minister said.

"If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable."

While he refused to get into operational details of the clashes along the border, the minister said as long the Pakistani forces continue to fire and shell Indian areas there can never be peace.

Pakistani shelling and firing have taken the lives of at least eight civilians since 6 October while another 60 people have been injured, he said.

Thousands have fled from the border villages in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts following attacks by the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Rangers.

Jaitley said while India remained a ''responsible state'', it is its paramount duty to defend its people and territory. ''The army and BSF have only one option - to respond adequately.''

He said Pakistan's intentions were to precipitate tensions where none existed and to also provide cover fire to push infiltrators into India.