Some people lose sleep when India hits terrorists: PM Modi attacks Oppn

When Pakistan is exposed in front of the world, 'these people' start speaking in its favour, Modi said.

Some people lose their sleep when India hits back at terrorists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday while launching a broadside against opposition parties who he claimed were putting the lives and future of the people in danger.

Addressing a rally in this Uttar Pradesh town ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections beginning April 11, the prime minister said "some people" did not like the fact that terrorists were being given a reply in their own language.

"After the terrorist attack, should I have remained silent or attacked," he asked the gathering, referring to the February 14 terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama.

"Terrorists are being given a reply in their own language... this is not liked by some people who lose their sleep when India hits back," he said.

When Pakistan is exposed in front of the world, "these people" start speaking in its favour, Modi said.

"Be it the Congress, the SP or the BSP, they have put your life and future in danger," the prime minister told the crowd gathered in this Uttar Pradesh town with a sizeable Muslim population.

The governments of 'Bua' (Mayawati) and 'Babua' (Akhilesh Yadav) released terror accused and were kind to them, Modi alleged.

The prime minister said he had not let the country hang its head in shame in the five years he had been in power, stressing that the country's reputation and image was higher than it had been ever been.

"I would like to thank the government of UAE and people of UAE for honouring me with the Zayed medal...this is not an award given to Modi but to the Indian people," he said.

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He said on Thursday that he accepts the prestigious 'Order of Zayed' conferred on him by the United Arab Emirates with utmost humility.

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China claims credit for 'constructive role' in reducing India-Pak tension

A Pakistani minister said China and the United Arab Emirates also intervened to lessen tension between the south Asian neighbors.

China played a “constructive role” in reducing tension between Pakistan and India, the foreign ministry said, after the nuclear-armed rivals almost came to blows last month following an attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy in disputed Kashmir.

The sparring threatened to spiral out of control and only interventions by U.S. officials, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, headed off a bigger conflict, five sources familiar with the events have told Reuters.

At one stage, India threatened to fire at least six missiles at Pakistan, and Islamabad said it would respond with its own missile strikes “three times over”, said Western diplomats and government sources in New Delhi, Islamabad and Washington.

A Pakistani minister said China and the United Arab Emirates also intervened to lessen tension between the south Asian neighbors.

In a faxed statement to Reuters late on Monday, responding to a question on China’s role in reining in the crisis, its foreign ministry said peaceful coexistence between Pakistan and India was in everyone’s interest.

“As a friendly neighbor of both India and Pakistan, China pro-actively promoted peace talks and played a constructive role in easing the tense situation,” it said.

“Some other countries also made positive efforts in this regard,” the ministry added.

China is willing to work with the international community to continue to encourage the neighbors to meet each other half way and use dialogue and peaceful means to resolve differences, it said, without elaborating.

The Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, is set to meet Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Beijing later on Tuesday.

The Feb. 14 attack that killed at least 40 paramilitary police was the deadliest in Kashmir’s 30-year-long insurgency, escalating tension between the neighbors, who said they shot down each other’s fighter jets late last month.

China and Pakistan call each other “all-weather” friends, but China has also been trying to improve ties with New Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held an informal summit in China last year agreeing to reset relations, and Xi is expected to visit India sometime this year, diplomatic sources say.

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India-Pakistan tension: Threat of further escalation over, says Pak govt

The official told journalists that Pakistan did not foresee any further "aggressive action" from India, the report said.

The threat of further escalation between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack is over, an internal assessment of the Pakistan government has concluded.

The Express Tribune reported that the assessment was shared by a senior official on Monday in a background briefing on the current state of relations between the two neighbouring countries.

"There is a visible de-escalation in tension," the official said.

The official told journalists that Pakistan did not foresee any further "aggressive action" from India, the report said.

Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26.

The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured Indian pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.

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There was fear that India may launch more strikes or escalate the situation to end the crisis on a high note, the paper said.

When asked whether Pakistan feared another possible misadventure' by India before the elections in the country, the official confidently replied: "There is no room for such aggressive action from India".

The upbeat assessment of the government is apparently linked to hectic diplomacy involving many regional and international players, seeking de-escalation in tensions between the two countries, the paper said.

In a first sign of easing of tensions, Pakistani and Indian high commissioners resumed their diplomatic work in Islamabad and New Delhi on Saturday.

Both countries called back their envoys for consultations soon after the Pulwama attack.

India handed over to Pakistan a dossier on "specific details" of involvement of the JeM in the attack.

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