India not afraid to fight a war, says Lt.-Gen Hoon, reacting to Sharif

Reacting to the statement of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that if a solution to the Kashmir issue is delayed, it may lead to a war with India, retired Lieutenant General P.N Hoon said "if Pakistan wants to fight, the Indian army is ready and is not frightened".

Speaking here today, General Hoon said that Pakistan can never be trusted.

"It is not a new thing. Sometimes Nawaz says we want friendship, sometimes he says no. We cannot trust him. Now Raheel Sharif has become the Army Chief. They are talking of a war against us. What is or government doing?" asked Hoon.

"When PM Manmohan Singh went to the United Nations (UN) and met the Pakistan Prime Minister on the sidelines, we had appealed to him not to engage in talks with Nawaz Sharif. I personally appealed to the PM not to even shake hands or look at him," he added.

Furthermore, he said that he had warned a couple of times on television that this issue will be raised soon and had suggested that the Army should send strike forces to the battle stations immediately, before the attack on Keran happened, but they did not do anything.

"What has the government done in the past 15 years? Neither the common man is happy nor the poor or the women. There needs to be a strong government at the Centre if they do not want to lose Kashmir," said Hoon.

"I also want to send a message on Kashmir that if they want to fight a fourth war against us, we do not have a problem. Our army is ready. Even though our equipments are not that advanced, we can take them on,"he said, adding "Nawaz Sharif knew that the elections were on in India and he was saying all this on purpose."

Nawaz Sharif has warned that failure to resolve the Kashmir dispute with India could lead to a fourth war between the two nuclear powers.

Nawaz Sharif suggested an early settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiris in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council meeting.

He said Pakistan did not want to indulge in an arms race with India and would adhere to the cease-fire agreement along the Line of Control (LoC).

Sharif reiterated that he has been highlighting the Kashmir issue at international forums, including the UN General Assembly and during his meeting with President Barack Obama.