A day after Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir issued a fresh nuclear threat against India, former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned on Monday that Islamabad could go to war if New Delhi proceeds with changes to the Indus Waters Treaty.
India placed the 1960 agreement in abeyance soon after the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, which killed 26 people. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has previously stated that India would never restore the accord.
“If Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces an attack on Indus, he attacks our history, our culture and our civilisation,” Bilawal told the reporters.
Bilawal alleged that Modi’s announcement of a water project on the Indus amounted to a warning that Pakistan’s water supply could be curtailed. He said that during his overseas visits, he had raised the issue to highlight what he called India’s “aggressive water policy.”
According to him, this “water aggression” was in retaliation for India’s setback in a military clash in May. He said the people of Sindh have always defended the Indus whenever it was under threat.
“The people of Pakistan have the strength to confront Modi in the event of war,” Bilawal said, warning that another conflict could see Pakistan reclaiming all six of its rivers.
The comments followed Munir’s remarks to the Pakistani diaspora in Tampa, Florida, where he warned that Pakistan could use its nuclear weapons to “take down India and half the world” if faced with an existential threat.
“We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we will take half the world down with us,” media reports quoted him as saying. “We will wait for India to build a dam, and when they do so, we will destroy it.”
Munir is currently on his second visit to the United States in as many months. He also said Islamabad would destroy Indian infrastructure if water flow to Pakistan was blocked.
Reacting to the remarks, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Monday that Munir’s fresh nuclear threat reinforced long-held doubts about the integrity of Pakistan’s nuclear command and control, where the military is “hand-in-glove” with terrorist groups. New Delhi, the MEA said, will not give in to “nuclear blackmail.”
“Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan’s stock-in-trade,” the MEA said, adding that India would continue to take all steps necessary to safeguard national security.
In an apparent message to Washington, the ministry noted it was “regrettable” that these remarks were made on the soil of a “friendly third country.”
Bilawal had made similar threats in June, saying Pakistan would go to war if India denied it its fair share of water under the Indus Waters Treaty. His comments came two days after Pakistan’s foreign ministry criticised Shah’s “brazen disregard” for international agreements.
In a speech to parliament, Bilawal rejected India’s suspension of the treaty and threatened to secure Pakistan’s water rights.
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