SUNDAY TIMES RAWALPINDI: DG ISPR said the two neighbouring countries were close to war after the ingress by Indian warplanes into Pakistan.

“It is up to India whether they take that peace gesture and move forward toward de-escalation or continue the agenda that they have,” he said while responding to a question with regard to the release of captured Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman as a peace gesture.

There is presence of troops at the Line of Control (LoC) for decades. But post the Indian aggression and our response the safeguards have been taken by both sides,” DG ISPR said, adding that the military presence along the frontier had been scaled up as “it is natural as part of military planning  when the station gets hot there are safeguards. Those safeguards are in place on both sides.”

Gen Ghafoor said not even a single brick had been found at the place where Indian warplane dropped their payload before being chased away by the Pakistan Air Force, let alone causalities.