India planning a surgical strike against Pakistan to divert attention from its internal affairs: FM Qureshi.

DUBAI/ISLAMABAD -- Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday said he had credible information that India was planning a surgical strike against Pakistan to divert attention from its internal affairs and that it was trying to seek "tacit approval" for the move from its "partners".

The foreign minister made this statement at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, where he is ending a two-day visit during which he held meetings with the top brass of the Emirati leadership. At the presser, Shah Mahmood Qureshi summed up his engagements with the UAE leadership over the last two days but also touched on the designs of India, which he said were "picked up by intelligence".

"An important development has cropped up [...] I've learned through our intelligence forces [...] that India is planning a surgical strike against Pakistan," said Qureshi.

Terming it a "serious development" he further elaborated that India is already "trying to seek tacit approval" from what Qureshi said were "important players who they consider to be their partners". The minister said in his opinion this operation was being planned so India could divert attention from "serious internal issues" and as a means to unify divisions in the country.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi noted that Pakistan had revealed 'India sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan' through a dossier that it shared with the international community. He also mentioned the recent report by the EU DisinfoLab which exposed an Indian disinformation network of 'fake websites and fake NGOs that they had launched with a sole objective to malign Pakistan'.

Elaborating on the 'serious internal issues' facing India at the moment, Qureshi said the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir 'was never good but has deteriorated further'. The ongoing farmers' protests in Punjab, Qureshi said, was a 'country-wide protest' resulting from 'the policies of this regime, the BJP regime'. He said the protest was growing, with various segments of India such as 'opposition parties, lawyers, civil society and trade unions' expressing their support for it.

'The mishandling of the coronavirus by Indian authorities is known to everyone. The impact that it is having on their economy is known to all.' The situation of the minorities in India, the foreign minister said, was also 'increasingly uncomfortable', referring to the protests in Assam and the situation of Dalits, Sikhs and Muslims.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said 'Pakistan is fully prepared to respond...