Ghaznavi launch, yet another attempt to put the fear of war and internationalise Kashmir issue

New Delhi, Aug 30: A night of training to launch of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ghaznavi was carried out by Pakistan, on early Thursday amidst rising tensions with India.

Following this, Major General Asif Ghafoor, spokesperson of the Pakistan armed forces said that the exercise was successful. He even posted a 30-second video clip of the missile launch on Twitter.

The timing of the launch is suspected and analysts say that it was another exercise aimed internationalizing the Kashmir issue. It is a two-pronged strategy by Pakistan to internationalise the issue both through diplomatic and military channels.

Pakistan is clearly trying to raise the war spectre and telling the international community to intervene, failing which there could be a full-blown nuclear war.

In Pakistan, there were several statements issued in the past couple of weeks after the Indian government decided to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke about Pulwama like attacks. Further one has also seen some military adventurism by Pakistan along the border.

On Thursday, Pakistan's Railway Minister predicted a war with India, sometime in October. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said that he feels that a full-fledged war will be fought between India and Pakistan in October or November this year.

Ahmad made this prediction at an event which was organized to show solidarity with Kashmiris.

"The time of the last battle for the liberation of Kashmir has arrived and this time the war with India will be full and final," Ahmad said.

With these statements and actions, Pakistan is looking for international intervention on the Kashmir. In a bid to do so, the narrative in Pakistan is clearly around the possibility of a war. It feels that the international community would intervene considering both are nuclear states.