India Slams Pakistan Over ‘War-Mongering’ Remarks, Says Anti-India Rhetoric To Hide Own Failures

The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday criticised Pakistan’s Army leadership for its “reckless, war-mongering and hateful comments” and accused them of employing anti-India rhetoric to deflect from its own domestic problems. The MEA asserted that any “misadventure" would have painful consequences. 

“We have seen reports regarding a continuing pattern of reckless, war-mongering and hateful comments from Pakistani leadership against India. It is a well-known modus operandi to whip up anti-India rhetoric time and again to hide their own failures,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a press conference. 

He warned that “any misadventure will have painful consequences, as was demonstrated recently.” The remarks came after Pakistan prime minister Shahbaz Sharif asserted that India would not be allowed to take “even a drop” of water belonging to Pakistan. “If you threaten to hold our water, you cannot snatch even one drop of Pakistan,” Sharif said at a ceremony in Islamabad, adding that India would be “taught a lesson” if it attempted such a move.

Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir had earlier warned that Islamabad "would take half the world down” with them. 

He had also threatened Reliance industry’s Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat, which is the largest single-site refinery in the world, as a possible target in the future.  

New Delhi responded to Munir’s comments by accusing Pakistan of “nuclear sabre-rattling” and questioning the integrity of its nuclear command. India also raised concerns that such threats were levied by a military establishment “hand-in-glove with terrorist groups”, which cast a doubt over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.