The Inter-Service Intelligence directorate’s powerful chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, has warned India that any Abbottabad-like attack by it would invite a “befitting response” from Pakistan as targets in India “had already been identified” and “rehearsals” had been carried out.
Lt. Gen. Pasha’s warning came at a joint session of the Senate and the National Assembly held behind closed doors on Friday.
The Inter-Services Intelligence chief is facing a lot of flak over his agency’s inability to track down Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, where he was living, before he was killed by US special forces in a covert operation on May 2.
In an apparent response to statements from New Delhi that India too can carry out strikes inside Pakistan, Lt. Gen. Pasha said any attack from the east would invite a “befitting response”, Dawn reported. A contingency plan was in place and targets “inside India” had “already been identified”. He told the Pakistani legislators: “We have also carried out rehearsals for it.”
Earlier, on May 5, the Pakistan Army and the government had reacted sharply, warning India against any Abbottabad-like “misadventure”, saying it would be responded to “very strongly” and could lead to a “terrible catastrophe”.
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Chandy to be Kerala CM, oath on Wed.
Age Correspondent
thiruvananthapuram
May 15: Congress leader Oommen Chandy will be sworn in as chief minister here on Wednesday along with the ministers of United Democratic Front coalition partners.
Mr Chandy, who was unanimously elected as the United Democratic Front Legislature Party leader at a meeting in the Cantonment House here on Sunday evening, later met governor R.S. Gavai and briefed him.
He also handed over the letter of support from the alliance partners to the governor.