"We believe in peace and we are giving a message of peace from here. But, their generals should understand that we have a large Army and we are prepared..."
The harrowing tragedy struck Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday just a day before Eid celebrations when a tanker carrying 40,000 litres of petrol overturned and burst into flames as hundreds of villagers had gathered to collect the fuel spilled over on the highway at the Ahmedpur Sharqia area of the Bahawalpur district, some 400 km from Lahore.
The country opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.
"The world's eye is on Kashmir and on Pakistan...I will be the ambassador who raises Kashmir's voice at every international forum," he said.
'Tehran senses that the Modi government is inexorably gravitating toward the US-Israeli-Saudi axis, jettisoning India's traditional independent Gulf policies,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Flight PK-303 from Lahore was about to land in Karachi when it crashed at the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir, just a minute before its landing, officials said.
Prime Minister Khan, in his address, said Pakistan will never fight any other country's war in future and his government's foreign policy will be in the best interest of the nation.
The meeting took place two days after a military tribunal sentenced Indian national Kulbhushan Jadav to death on charges of spying
'Jaish e Mohammed has been allowed to resurge through supported terror actions in J&K in a deliberate tactic by Pakistan, if only to reduce the international pressure on the Lashkar e Taiba leadership after 26/11,' points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Pakistan called in the Army to restore order after violent clashes.
About 2,000 activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan for more than two weeks have been blocking the Islamabad Expressway and Murree Road that connect Islamabad with its only airport and the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
"Our government has invariably made efforts to initiate the process of meaningful dialogue and adoption of peaceful means to resolve the issues but unfortunately the expansionist designs of India have remained the main hurdle in this regard," Abbasi said.
'It is not difficult for a Pakistan army chief assisted by the deep state to manipulate a situation.' 'Pulwama, Uri and Pathankot, all come to mind,' cautions Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid on Monday quit as the government "surrendered" to hardline religious groups, who called off their violent protests in Islamabad that had left six people dead and hundreds injured.
The blast took place during Dhamaal -- a Sufi ritual -- when hundreds of devotees were present inside the premises of the vast mausoleum of the saint.
This is the first time the Pakistan army has publicly backed the arrest of India-focused jihadis.
Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari has returned to the country, ending his 18-month-long self-imposed exile, amidst speculations about his future role in the Pakistan Peoples Party, which has threatened a major protest against the Nawaz Sharif government.
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
'When Sushma Swaraj was campaigning like a one-man army against Pakistan for the treatment meted out to Chetna Jadhav and her mother-in-law, India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was secretly huddled with his Pakistani counterpart in Bangkok.' 'It is becoming impossible to make rational judgments about our government's Pakistan policies,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India slams the Pakistani prime minister for 'unwarranted reference to J&K' during pious occasion.
'China is likely to help Pakistan in keeping the fire burning in J&K to bleed India for its own interests.' A fascinating excerpt from Lieutenant General K Himalay Singh's Making of a General: A Himalayan Echo.
At least 56 seminaries and facilities being run by JuD and its wing FIF in Pakistan's southern Sindh province have been taken over by authorities.
Given all the turbulence created by Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi's unexpected tirade against Saudi Arabia, it is likely to be business as usual between the two countries, albeit with a bit of caution on the part of both, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The Army, in its statement, has vowed to give a befitting reply to Pakistan "in the same language".
'We have to hit Pakistan in such a manner where it hurts them the most.'
India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the air force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.
'India can replicate what Pakistan did to Kulbhushan Jadhav should the need arise.' 'Hopefully, Pakistan will see reason before that transpires,' says Ambassador G Parthasarathy, former high commissioner to Pakistan.
Nawaz Sharif's appointment of a new army chief will influence India-Pakistan relations
'The Modi government would chaff at the very idea of holding talks with Pakistan, facilitated by Washington and under close US monitoring, when the 2019 poll is sailing into view.' 'But in politics and diplomacy, there may be moments when drinking from the chalice of poison is necessary,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'They will not escalate and bring India-Pakistan close to war.'
'Pakistan's security establishment, despite its appallingly immoral approach to conflict, has worked with limited resources to maximise its national defence resources to continue bleeding India,' says Ajai Shukla.
'Offensive operations to capture objectives across the LoC to eliminate terrorist launch pads and deny the use of the most dangerous routes of infiltration, are likely to be limited to brigade-level attacks.' 'These limited operations are unlikely to escalate to war across the international boundary,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'Any conventional conflict could trigger a nuclear war with results that neither India nor Pakistan could survive easily.' >A revealing excerpt from Shuja Nawaz's The Battle For Pakistan: The Bitter US Friendship And A Tough Neighbourhood.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi assured the Secretary of State that his country is committed to the war against terrorism.
'That is not a democratic ideal obviously, but it is a practical reality.' 'It is a consistent feature of politicians in Pakistan that their rhetoric on the army softens the closer they get to the seat of power.'
Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted, 'Prime Minister Imran Khan will break ground at Kartarpura facilities on 28 November.'
'A resurgent Jaish could be a reflection of the Pakistani security establishment's view that with the region moving ever closer to a post-US Afghanistan, it is time to redirect attention to Kashmir.'
'Imran and his government have obviously agreed to be subservient to the military establishment.' 'How can we expect him to take a stand on anything?'
'It has a natural inclination to foster as much competition among civilian politicians as possible.'
'Already, there is talk of a possible extension for Raheel Sharif in the context of his perceived sterling, but incomplete work in the war against terror, as also the cleansing of crime and extortion networks in Karachi,' says Rana Banerji.
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