Pakistan Air Force chief warns India against full-scale war

Pakistan’s Lt. Gen. Zafar Iqbal Malik enquires about the health of a Kashmiri villager injured by Indian firing in Muzaffarabad on Thursday. (AP)

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Air Force chief on Thursday warned archrival India against escalating the dispute over Kashmir into full-scale war, urging New Delhi to exercise restraint.
Marshal Sohail Aman’s warning came as tensions are soaring between Islamabad and New Delhi over the contested Himalayan territory where Pakistan said Indian fire on Wednesday killed 12 civilians and three soldiers — the deadliest incident in weeks of border clashes.
Aman said that if Indian forces escalate the crisis, Pakistani troops “know full well how to deal with them.”
Also Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a high-level security meeting to review the Kashmir situation.
“We will never abandon our Kashmiri brethren in their freedom struggle,” Sharif later said, according to a government statement.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for an end to violence in Kashmir during a visit to Islamabad Thursday, warning tensions between India and Pakistan are holding the region back from becoming an “incredible boomzone.”