Ladakh opens a new avenue for Kashmir, new window for diplomacy: Masood.

MIRPUR -- President, Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), Sardar Masood Khan on Monday said though China-India standoff had led to active clashes but there was no risk of a wider war, for the time being, because of India's cautious and muted response due to its forces' decisive routing at the hands of the People Liberation Army (PLA).

President AJK, Masood Khan made these remarks at a virtual conference on 'China and India Standoff - what next: Implications for Pakistan, Kashmir Movement' organized by the Corporate Pakistan Group.

President Masood, who had served in China as a diplomat for eight years, said India had underestimated the steely resolve, nationalism and professionalism of the PLA.

He said China and India's capabilities might match in certain areas but in many dimensions, China outstrips India and could easily out-compete it.

China had, he said, an estimated 320 nuclear warheads compared to India's 150. The number of PLA forces is 1.6 million compared to India's 1.2 million (this is without counting the reserves). Last year, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China's defense expenditure was US $ 261 billion while India's expense was US $ 71 billion, making them the second and the third largest defense spenders after the US. 'The contrast is stark', he said.

'But machines do not fight wars, nations do', President Khan said adding that other factors like command and control, soldier morale, discipline, the justness of the cause, internal situations and the state of the economy played a pivotal part in determining the outcome of wars.

He said that India would not fight even a limited war because it did not want a repeat of the 1962 war for which the violent extremist BJP-RSS regime excoriated Nehru till this day. 'Modi does not want to go down as a new Nehru in history', he said.

Besides, India's economy has plummeted drastically and is incapable of sustaining any prolonged conflict. Despite their bluster, President Masood Khan said, Indian armed forces had no history of fighting equals and winning. Their hallmark was the killing and maiming their own people or of occupied territories after disarming them, he commented.

'They have deployed 900,000 troops in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir to fight, according to their own claims, 230 militants. That's their power; that's their strength', he said.

The AJK President said the total volume of China-India trade was US $ 90 billion, with India exports goods and...