Amid Kartarpur gesture, Pakistan President Arif Alvi talks of ‘belligerent neighbourhood’

Pakistan’s weapons are a deterrent to ensure that nobody looks at it with a “bad eye” as the country is facing a “belligerent neighbourhood”, President Arif Alvi said on Tuesday.

Alvi was addressing the opening ceremony of the 10th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2018 in Karachi.

“We want peace, we have been striving for peace in a belligerent neighbourhood but we must stay strong…Our weapons are for peaceful intent,” he said, without naming any country.

“We are there to defend our country and that is what IDEAS is all about,” he said.

Pakistan’s weapons will be “for defence, never for offence”, he said without mentioning the country’s nuclear capabilities. “When the paradigm is not in our favour, we also have a deterrent to ensure the fact that nobody looks at Pakistan with a bad eye at all.” Alvi also appreciated the sacrifices of the Pakistan Army in the fight against terrorism and bringing peace in the country.

Over 262 companies from from China, Russia, USA, France, Germany, Turkey, Poland and South Korea have established their pavilions at the EXPO Center to display their products, according to Radio Pakistan.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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