Pak set new normal by giving 'quid pro quo plus' response to Indian actions, claims Ishaq Dar

Islamabad: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday claimed that his country has set a new normal by giving a “quid pro quo plus” response to the recent Indian actions.

India carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7 after the Pahalgam terror attack. Following Indian strikes, Pakistan attempted to hit Indian military bases. However, the Indian side responded strongly to the Pakistani actions.

"Pakistan gave a quid pro quo plus” response to India, which is the “new normal set by Pakistan if India insists on its dangerous notion of limited war under the nuclear threshold,” Dar claimed while speaking at an event in Islamabad.

“The outcome of this four-day war has once again underscored the reality that India can neither intimidate nor coerce Pakistan,” said Dar, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister.

Dar also said Pakistan was determined to protect its rights and entitlement under the Indus Water Treaty. He said Pakistan will continue to mobilize all relevant international and legal foras to highlight what he called India's "violations of international law and the treaty's provisions”.

He reiterated Pakistan's support for Kashmir, saying “sustainable peace in South Asia remained contingent on a just and lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute”.

Dar also said Pakistan remains committed to a peaceful and cooperative relationship with all its neighbours including India.

He called for re-imagining regional cooperation in South Asia and the extended neighbourhood, emphasising that South Asian countries can constitute groups on issues from economy to technology to connectivity.

The minister said Pakistan, China and Bangladesh have recently formed a trilateral mechanism to promote cooperation in a broad range of areas of common interests.

He highlighted the improvement in ties with Afghanistan, recalling that Pakistan devised a trilateral mechanism with Afghanistan with the cooperation of China, as the country seeks to “reset Pakistan and Afghanistan’s relationship on a positive trajectory”.

"Our visit to Kabul on April 19 and Pakistan, China and Afghanistan’s trilateral meeting in Beijing paved the way for a qualitative change,” he said, adding that Pakistan has agreed to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.

"Having made sincere efforts in Afghanistan’s interest, it is our legitimate expectation that the Afghan interim government would take all steps necessary to ensure that Afghanistan's soil is not used for terrorism against any state, particularly Pakistan,” he added.