Thread by @PTIofficial

I am grateful to the opposition and the nation for standing together at this time; when we are under threat. On the 26th of July when I wasn’t even sworn in as Prime Minister, I said that if India takes one step forward for dialogue, we’ll take two.
#PakistanLeadsWithPeace

There’s a reason; the Sub Continent is the world’s largest poverty stricken region and my vision is that no nation can ever prosper where a few are rich and the rest are poor. And China showed us that.
#PakistanLeadsWithPeace

It progressed when they alleviated 700 million people out of poverty. It was their greatest achievement but they had another achievement. China handled all their disputes in the region with great maturity.
#PakistanLeadsWithPeace

And when you look at the last 15 years, America spent 1 trillion USD in Afghanistan, China despite their disputes developed their infrastructure and established the most sophisticated railway network.
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For the Sub continent to progress, it is essential to have peace. And the ability to resolve all our disputes through dialogue. Therefore on the 26th, I made a peace offering.
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I even wrote a letter to Narender Modi that our Foreign Ministers should meet on the sidelines of the UNGA. But we didn’t receive a good response. We realized the response wasn’t good because elections were coming up.
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And better relations with Pakistan were not a part of their election promises. We thought we would move forward with our initiative for talks after the Indian elections. After that we saw an opportunity in Kartarpur.
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As a gesture to reduce tensions, we took an initiative to open the Kartarpur corridor. Unfortunately we realized that things would not move forward until after the elections in India. So we decided to wait.
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But we feared that before the elections there will be an incident that will be exploited for the elections. It was a fear; but then Pulwama happened. What would we gain from such an attack? Therefore we immediate addressed India.
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And said we will act on actionable intelligence you give us because all of us in this Parliament have signed the National Action Plan that we will not allow any kind of armed militia to use our soil for any terrorist activity.
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FATF has also included Pakistan in their grey list. So we were already focused on actions compliant with FATF. And so we asked India to share actionable intelligence with us. But unfortunately instead of sharing evidence India launched war hysteria.
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I would like to commend Pakistan’s media who in contrast was very responsible. I believe that because during the last 12 years in war on terror our media has witnessed the horrors of war firsthand. They have seen the victims of Bombings.
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I sent them a message that if you attack us we will retaliate. No sovereign nation can allow its territory to be violated or attacked. But I repeatedly asked for actionable intelligence. Today we have received a dossier on Pulwama Attack.
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Today they have sent it, after attacking us and violating International laws and the UN Charter, two days ago. Could they have not given us this dossier two days ago? And then if we had failed to act, taken action perhaps?
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When india attacked Pakistan, I got the information between 3:30, 4 am. I spoke to the Army chief, Airforce Chief. We debated whether we should respond to the attacks or not. The problem was we didn’t know if there had been any casualties.
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The following day we only took action to show we have the will and the capability to retaliate in response to India aggression. There was no collateral damage nor was anyone targetted in our response.
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We have sent messages to them yesterday and the Foreign Minister is also in contact with World leaders and Foreign Ministers all in an effort to de-escalate. I want to come to the crux of the matter. The whole issue revolves around Kashmir.
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I want to ask the people of India should they not question the torture and violence that has been inflicted upon the people of Kashmir over the last several years? Will they be able to subdue the people of Kashmir through such pressure?
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Today there’s only one voice in Kashmir and that is for independence. So I want to ask the people of India before pointing fingers at Pakistan without proof think why a 19 yr old boy would blow himself up just to harm Indian security forces?
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War has no victim. And a war between two countries that have the weapons that we have, no one should even think of war. I shudder to think of any kind of miscalculation on our parts. Look at history.
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War is not a solution. When war mongering starts& you move towards escalation,if India takes any action now we will have no choice but to take action. Where will we go from there? I also keep hearing Indian officials blaming Pakistan on nuclear blackmail.
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I don’t understand what that means. They are suggesting that because we have nuclear weapons in Pakistan, therefore we are indulging in such actions in India. In my opinion, I want to say this before everyone, Pakistan wants nothing but peace.
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I’ve said this to Mr. Modi yesterday, and I’ve said this to all our friends, I will speak to the Turkish President tonight for de-escalation. But please don’t think of our efforts for de-escalation as our weakness. It is not our weakness.
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There should be no wrong signals. When we look at history, there were two kings, Bahadur Shah Zafar and Tipu Sultan. Bahadur Shah Zafar when faced the choice between enslavement & freedom, chose enslavement.
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Tipu Sultan also faced the same choice to either surrender to the British and be enslaved or fight for freedom till his last breath. Pakistan’s hero is Tipu Sultan.
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A nation, any nation when pushed to a state where it has to fight then any respectable person would fight for freedom. They will never accept enslavement. That is why I want to send a message to Mr. Modi. Look! Don’t push us to that extreme.
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I know what we are prepared for and I can see where this is going. I know where Pakistan’s army stands and how prepared they are. Last night there was a threat that a missile could be used on Pakistan which later got diffused.
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I know where our Army stood to act in retaliation to such a move. So that is why I am saying to India do not take this forward because if you do attack, we will be a force to reckon with.
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And then two countries who have the weapons that we have who shouldn’t even be thinking along the lines of war, because the world has only come to this sort of crisis once before; during the Cuban missile crisis.
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