By NNN-PTI,
Islamabad : Tribal elders in Pakistan’s restive tribal belt warned they would “strike back” if war was imposed on the country by India in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, saying six million tribesmen would not “bear Indian threats”.
These views were expressed by prominent elders of North and South Waziristan tribal regions, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, while addressing a jirga on Saturday. More than 100 elders from different tribal regions attended the council.
The tribal elders were quoted by the state-run APP news agency as saying that they would strike back if war was imposed on Pakistan by India. They said six million tribesmen would fight alongside the Pakistan Army in the event of any eventuality as the tribesmen would not bear Indian threats.
Malik Muhammad Rafique, Malik Saeed Khan Wazir, Malik Zaram Khan and other elders alleged that India’s “secret agencies” had started a new propaganda campaign against Pakistan to isolate it in the world community. The elders claimed an Indian spy agency had trained Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured by Indian authorities for the Mumbai attacks.
They claimed this was done to start an “anti-Pakistan campaign” and “warned India to talk sense and stop threatening Pakistan, which was fully capable to reply in a befitting manner if war was imposed”. The actions of the tribesmen “would remind the Indian government of the Kashmiri jehad”, the elders said.
The elders condemned the Israeli attacks on the innocent people of Palestine and appealed to Muslim countries to stand united against the Israeli “aggression”.