Pakistan should provide weapons to Kashmiris: Ex-Defense Minister

ISLAMABAD: Ex Defence Minister Lt Gen (ret) Naeem Khalid Lodhi urged Pakistan to provide weapons and material support to Kashmiris to fight against India.

He said that Pakistan must not wait for Indian attack and meager resources should not be an argument in Pakistan’s weaker response to Indian warmongering. Ex-minister said that Pakistan could liberate Azad Jammu & Kashmir in 1948 through the 12-bore rifle and there is no logic that Pakistan cannot engage in a war with nuclear power.

Lt.Gen (ret) Naeem Khalid Lodhi was speaking at a conference on “Kashmir Crisis: Challenge for Peace in South Asia”, at a local hotel in Islamabad. Diplomats, academicians, media persons, students, and civil society members participated in the conference.

Lt Gen (R) Naeem Khalid Lodhi said the statements from Indian top leadership including the prime minister, defense minister and army chief should not be taken as rhetoric. We cannot acquire Kashmir only with table talks and diplomatic efforts. He argued that Pakistan should provide
ammunition and other logistical support to the Kashmiris to help them get their right to self-determination.

He advocated that helping Kashmiris with weaponry is legal as per international law because the people over there have been forcefully annexed by India.

Former Defense Minister said that this notion that we are economically weak therefore we cannot go into a battle is a misplaced opinion as Vietnam and Afghanistan fought their wars of independence when they were weak while Libya despite economically strong could not survive.

General (ret) Lodhi said that when we say’ if India attacks us we will fight back’ it means we are not realizing that India has already attacked us, so what are we waiting for? Pakistan must retaliate against the Indian decision of Jammu Kashmir’s Annexation.