Pak answered India's aggression with responsibility: Alvi

Islamabad: Amid vociferous protests by opposition members, Pakistan President Arif Alvi told Parliament that Islamabad has always answered India's aggression with "responsibility" and that Kulbhushan Jadhav's presence in Pakistan is evidence that India has always sponsored terrorism in their country.

With opposition members shouting "Kashmir ka sauda namanzoor, Selected government namanzoor", almost drowning out his speech, Alvi on Thursday also warned the international community that "any negligence" in countering alleged genocide in Kashmir "will pose a serious threat to international peace".

"We have always answered India's aggression with responsibility in a bid to ease the already volatile situation. When India violated Pakistan's airspace [in February this year], the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) responded with great valour and showed the military forces' operational preparedness to India," he said.

He said Kulbhushan Jadhav's presence in Pakistan is evidence that India has always sponsored terrorism on Pakistani soil. "He has confessed that he is a serving officer and was sent to ignite tensions in Balochistan," Alvi added.

Alvi said that "a Hindu extremist mindset had taken over India" and the world would have to confront these fascist policies. He alleged that the "religious extremism of the RSS was fast reshaping the face of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru's India and had made the lives of minorities and moderates of India unsafe".

He claimed that the geographical significance of Pakistan has focused the world's attention on it. "Pakistan is world's seventh and Muslim world's first nuclear power. Our nuclear assets are a deterrent to the aggressive designs of our enemies," he said.

He blamed "certain bad decisions" taken in the past as responsible for "the curse of terrorism" in the country.

Opposition members kept shouting anti-government slogans throughout his speech, and even tore papers and threw them in the air.

They also blocked Alvi's vision with placards inscribed with slogans like "Kashmir ka sauda namanzoor" (No deal acceptable on Kashmir).