'No option other than full-blown war with India': Pakistan minister Khawaja Asif

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif - File Photo

Amid escalating border tensions with India, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has declared that the country has no option left but to engage in a full-scale war.

Speaking to 365 News, Asif, while responding to a query on whether the country was staring at a full-blown war with India, said: "We don't have any other options other than this .... We have to pay them back in the same coin."

"So the war is at our door?" the anchor questioned, to which Asif replied: "Absolutely, there shouldn't be any doubt on this..."

Before Pakistan carried out failed attacks on several Indian military establishments with drones and missiles on Thursday night, Asif on Wednesday said that Pakistan was trying to avoid a full-blown war with India.

"There is a possibility of expansion of this conflict into a full-fledged war, which we are trying to avoid," Asif told CNN's Becky Anderson on Connect the World.

His remarks came after India launched Operation Sindoor early Wednesday, hitting nine terror targets in PoK and Punjab in retaliation for the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22 that killed 26 people.

In a separate interview to Bloomberg Television, Asif had said that Islamabad was ready to “wrap” the tensions between the two countries if “India backs down”.

Using 300-400 Turkish drones, Pakistan on Thursday night made a failed attempt to target military installations in Jammu, Pathankot, Jaisalmer and several other cities in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan.

The drones, along with eight missiles, were intercepted and neutralised by India's air defence system. In retaliatory action, Indian drones targeted four Pakistani air defence sites and managed to destroy one air defence radar system.