Pakistan not in position to fight war against India: Ayesha Siddiqa

Pakistan and its Army are not in a position to fight a war against India on Kashmir as the country's slowing economy and rising inflation have left a disastrous effect on common man's life, Pakistani scholar, author and expert on military affairs Ayesha Siddiqa has said.

Ayesha, who is the writer of "Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy" made the comment while speaking to Cine Ink during an interaction on scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A from Kashmir.

"I was interacting with a friend in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and asked him why the Army is not fighting. Then the reply came -- they will get defeated. Now, common people understand that this is not the right time to fight a war against India," Ayesha said in a video interaction.

"This is for the first time, a common man (in Pakistan) realises that war is not possible. There is a pain, a deep sorrow but there is despair that nothing can't be done. Its time to see as to how Pakistan Army will react," she said.

"For the past 72 years, the focus of the Pakistan Army was Kashmir and India. One day they woke up and nothing was left. There are some groups in Pakistan Army who are in deep sorrow and angry and they will definitely raise a question," she said.

A recent tweet by Siddiqa on the same had read, "Just very very curious about how being on one page (civil & Mil) has helped Pakistan? When civilian govt wanted the military to read 4m their page, politicos were working on a more honorable re-alignment of relations with India. Now the same page has given this utter surrender."

Ayesha said Pakistan has also tasted defeat at the United Nations on the Kashmir issue and will now target its civil society members, who will raise questions over the government's failure on Kashmir.

She also questioned Islamabad's failure to curb terrorism and targeting innocent political activists in Pashtun dominated areas.

Ayesha, who hails from Lahore in Pakistan, is currently working as a research associate at the SOAS University of London.