Former ISI Chief, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Asad Durrani stated that ‘India is nolonger a big threat to Pakistan’ because of the mess it created byillegally revoking the special status of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir(IIOJK) in August 2019.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, Durrani said, “After what India did toKashmir, there is no threat to us on the eastern border. We should notlower our guard against a Balakot-like misadventure though, but they are socaught up in their own mess that they have little time to care aboutPakistan.”——————————
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Tensions between India and Pakistan spiraled back in February 2019, whenIndian warplanes crossed the de facto border in the disputed region ofKashmir and carried out a botched airstrike in the Balakot area ofKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). In retaliation, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carriedout strikes, shooting down two Indian jets.
Durrani revealed, “India has not always been the biggest threat to us.” Itis his belief that the inherent internal challenges faced by Pakistan areeconomic, political, and social.
Furthermore, he said, “There are some areas like Balochistan where there isunrest among people who feel politically alienated and deprived. Theeconomy is in bad shape. The government’s credibility is bad because peoplebelieve it has been brought into power by the military.”
Regarding foreign challenges, he stated, “If you ask me [about] challengesfrom outside, I would say Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey pose newchallenges.”
In his interview, the former ISI chief also said that the interference ofthe military in Pakistan’s political affairs is a damaging reality.However, Durrani said,
Whether it [military’s interference] should or should not be is a debatethat has not led us anywhere thus far. Our experience tells us thatwhenever the military intervened, the political parties ostracized, stageda comeback. [Field Marshal] Ayub Khan was supposed to keep Zulfikar AliBhutto out, but he staged a comeback and got elected. After [Gen] Zia ulHaq, Bibi [Benazir Bhutto] came to power.