Days after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi admitted that the terror outfit chief is present in the country, the military spokesperson ironically said that Jaish-e-Muhammed which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack does not exist in Pakistan.
Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor when asked if the two countries were close to war after the attack said, “We were I would say close to war because when they [India] violated the airspace under token aggression, we went for response...Along the Line of Control (LoC) we were eyeball-to-eyeball. There is presence of troops at the LoC for decades. But post the Indian aggression and our response, the safeguards have been taken by both side." He had also said that the troops have been increased “because it is natural as part of military planning. When the situation gets hot there are safeguards. Those safeguards are in place on both sides.”
When he was asked about the claims made by India regarding the air strikes it conducted on Balakot, Ghafoor said that not even a single brick had been found there nor were there any causalities. “Their [Indian] claims are false,” he said. He went on to say that the JeM claim of responsibility for the Pulwama attack had not been made from inside Pakistan. “Jaish-e-Muhammed does not exist in Pakistan. It has been proscribed by the United Nations and Pakistan also. Secondly, we are not doing anything under anybody pressure”, he claimed. Ghafoor also said that instead of blaming Pakistan, it is time for the world to aid and facilitate Pakistan in getting rid of such organisations.
Talking about release of the Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman as a "peace gesture", Major General Ghafoor stated, “Now it is up to India whether they take that peace gesture and move forward towards de-escalation or continue the agenda that they have...We feel that now the ball is in the Indian court. Should they decide to escalate more, the situation will go bad”, Ghafoor said.