Pakistan can never be seen as a friend of India, says VK Singh

New Delhi: Minister of state for external affairs V.K Singh on Saturday warned that Pakistan can never be seen as a friend of India.

Addressing a press conference at the state BJP headquarters in Jaipur, the former Indian army chief said if India ever considered Pakistan as its friend, it would be the biggest weakness of the country, an 'IANS' news agency report said.

"I was informed about Opposition candidates in the border areas of Rajasthan claiming that Pakistan was not a threat to India and hence it should not be treated as an enemy nation,” Singh said. "But a country which has been triggering proxy wars against India besides being a terrorist hub can never be treated as a friend. Treating Pakistan as a friend will be the biggest weakness of India."

The comments come amid tensions between India and Pakistan after the 14 February attack by a bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish e Mohammed terrorist group on Indian security personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district.

India bombed a terrorist training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot region on 26 February. On 27 February, Pakistan conducted an aerial raid against India that saw the Indian Air Force scrambling its jets in response — making it the first aerial skirmish between the two countries since 1971. Pakistan shot down an Indian fighter aircraft and captured its pilot. The pilot was returned to India on 1 March.

India accuses Pakistan of fomenting terrorism in India — a charge Pakistan denies though it accepts to extending political, moral and diplomatic support to what it describes as the “freedom struggle” in Kashmir.