Major General Asif Ghafoor calls for dialogue between India and Pakistan

Amid escalating tensions, Pakistan Army on Wednesday said it does not want a war with India as it is not a solution to problems.

"The road to peace goes through dialogue. Both countries have the capability and capacity but war is the failure of policy which India needs to understand," Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor said at a press conference here.

His comments came after the Pakistani jets violated the Indian air space and dropped some bombs in Rajouri sector of Jammu and Kashmir, a day after the Indian Air Force carried out a strike at Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camp in Balakot.

"We do not want to escalate this and want to follow a path which leads to peace. The people of both countries and region have a right to live peacefully. War is not the solution to problems. India should think with a cool mind on this offer from Pakistan," Gafoor said."Our message is for peace. Starting a war is easy, but where it will end, nobody knows," he added, while underlining the need for moving towards peace.

"Pakistan's Armed Forces (PAF) have capability, will and people's support. But because we are a responsible nation and want peace, we decided that, first of all, we will not take any military targets and secondly, we decided that there will be no loss of life or collateral damage in our engaging of targets. Our forces locked the targets, then in open air carried out the strikes," he added."Pakistan's response is not a retaliation per se, but a demonstration of our capability, responsibility and will. It is now up to India whether they go towards peace. But if forced, we will respond," the spokesman said.