Be ready to face any eventuality: Pak Army Chief tells troops amid growing tension with India

Islamabad, Feb 23: Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has reportedly visited Pakistani troops at the LoC in Kashmir on Friday, and asked them "to be ready to face any eventuality".

It was the first visit of the Army chief to the LoC since tension escalated between the two countries after the terror attack.

The development comes amid the denial by the Pakistan Army that it is was preparing for war with India. However, it asserted that the country 'has a right to respond to the war threats'.

Radio Pakistan reported that Bajwa lauded high morale of the troops. Bajwa said Pakistan is a peace loving country but it will not be intimidated or coerced.

He said, "Pakistan is a peace loving county and it will not be intimidated or coerced. Any aggression or misadventure shall be paid back in same coin." The already sour relations between India and Pakistan have worsened as New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the Pulwama attack. Both countries have called back their envoys for "consultations."

Earlier in the day, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor also said that India blamed Pakistan for the Pulwama attack "without due investigation" and New Delhi has not yet accepted the "reality of partition".

"We have a 72-year history. The partition happened in 1947 and Pakistan was liberated. India still hasn't been able to accept that," the Army spokesman said after the terror strike by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

We are not preparing for war, you (India) are issuing threats...we have right to respond to the threats. We are not preparing to initiate but planning to defend and retaliate which is our right," the Army spokesman said.