New Delhi has issued one of its strongest warnings yet to Islamabad, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on August 14, condemning what it called Pakistan’s “reckless, war-mongering and hateful” rhetoric against India, and making it clear that any misadventure would invite “painful consequences.”
Speaking at the weekly press briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described the repeated threats from Pakistan’s top leadership as part of a familiar political pattern.
“It is a well-known modus operandi of the Pakistani leadership to whip up anti-India rhetoric time and again to hide their own failures,” Jaiswal said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
The sharp rebuke came after a string of provocative remarks from Pakistan’s leaders following India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a move announced in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which left scores of Indian civilians dead.
On August 12, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif openly threatened New Delhi over the IWT suspension, declaring, “If you threaten to hold our water, keep in mind, you cannot snatch even one drop of Pakistan’s water. If you try, you will again be taught such a lesson that you will be left holding your ears.”
A day earlier, former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari likened India’s decision to an “attack on the Indus Valley Civilisation” and warned that Pakistan would not back down “if pushed into war.”
Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir reportedly went further, threatening to destroy any dam India might construct. Speaking in the US state of Florida during an overseas visit, Munir escalated his warning to the nuclear level, claiming Islamabad could plunge the region into war and “take almost half of the world down” if faced with an existential threat.
Responding to queries on the Court of Arbitration’s award under the Indus Waters Treaty, Jaiswal said: “India never accepted the legality, legitimacy, or competence of the so-called ‘Court of Arbitration’. Its pronouncements are without jurisdiction, devoid of legal standing, and have no bearing on India’s rights to utilise waters. The Indus Waters Treaty stands in abeyance by a sovereign decision of the Government of India.”
He also accused Pakistan of making “selective and misleading” references to the so-called award to further its anti-India narrative.
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