Amid tension between the two neighbouring countries, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a fresh threat to India on Tuesday saying the “enemy” would not be allowed to snatch “even one drop” of water belonging to his country.
“I want to tell the enemy today that if you threaten to hold our water, then keep this in mind that you cannot snatch even one drop of Pakistan,” Prime Minister Sharif said while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad.
He also warned that if India attempted to hold Indus waters, then “You (India) will be again taught such a lesson that you will be left holding your ears.”
India is yet to release an official statement in response to Shehbaz Sharif’s threat.
Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir’s jibe at India
This comes a couple of days after Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, reportedly warned of a nuclear response against India if his country faced an existential threat. Speaking at a private dinner in Tampa, Florida, Munir discussed regional tensions, the Indus Waters Treaty, and Pakistan’s missile capability.
Field Marshal Asim Munir said Pakistan would respond with nuclear weapons if it faced an existential threat in a future war with India. “We are a nuclear nation, if we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us,” he told attendees.
“We will wait for India to build a dam, and when they do so, we will destroy it,” Asim Munir was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
“The Indus River is not the Indians’ family property. We have no shortage of resources to undo the Indian designs to stop the river,” he added.
Hitting back, the ministry of external affairs said on Monday that Munir’s fresh nuclear threat against India reinforced the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in that country, where the military is “hand-in-glove” with terrorist groups and New Delhi will not give in to any nuclear blackmail.
Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor
A day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan including putting the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in “abeyance”. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that claimed the lives of 26 civilians, mostly Indian nationals.
Following four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes, India and Pakistan agreed upon a ceasefire on May 10 to end the conflict.
In the past few months amid tensions with India, Pakistan has repeatedly warned that any interference to stop the water would be treated as an “Act of war.”
Pakistan would not back down if India forced it into war: Bilawal Bhutto
Sharif’s statement comes a day after former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari made similar comments, terming the Indus Waters Treaty’s suspension an attack on the Indus Valley Civilisation and said Pakistan would not back down if India forced it into war.
Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mithun Chakraborty on Tuesday reacted sharply to the Pakistan People’s Party chairman’s comment and warned that India will respond with a series of Brahmos missiles.