Pakistan Hopes to Avoid War With India: It Would Lead to Mutual Suicide

Earlier, the Indian Air Force (IAF) claimed that it had lost a MiG-21 fighter but that a Pakistan F-16 jet had also been downed as the two sides engaged in an air battle, just a day after the IAF carried out an airstrike against a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist camp located in the Pakistani-controlled part of the Kashmir region.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has voiced hope that a full-scale military conflict between Islamabad and New Delhi would not take place.

“I hope not. That would be mutual suicide”, he told CNN when asked whether the recently heightened tensions could have led to a military conflict had it not been deescalated.

“The policy of this government is that we will not allow our soil to be used by any organization or any individual for terrorism against anyone and that includes India”, Qureshi said, commenting on India's concerns over Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad radical group.

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He recalled that shortly after becoming Pakistan’s Prime Minister,  Imran Khan underscored that if India “takes a step toward peace, we will do two such steps”.

Earlier on Wednesday, India and Pakistan engaged in an air battle, just a day after the IAF carried out an airstrike against a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist camp located in the Pakistani-controlled part of the Kashmir region.

Tensions between the two sides escalated on 14 February when at least 45 Indian paramilitary officers were killed after a car carrying over 100 pounds of explosives detonated next to a security convoy in Kashmir.

India named JeM leader Maulana Masood Azhar as the person responsible for ordering the attack and accused Pakistan of having a "direct hand" in the bombing. Islamabad has rejected the allegations, blaming New Delhi for human rights violations in Kashmir.