India's Modi warns Pakistan over ‘nuclear blackmail'
In reference to a report that quoted Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir as saying the country has nuclear weapons and would 'take half the world down' with it, Modi said the Indian armed forces were ready for any conflict.
'Nuclear blackmail has been going on for a long time but now India won't tolerate the blackmailing,' Modi said on Friday in his Independence Day speech at Delhi's Red Fort. 'If our enemies persist in such attempts, our armed forces will respond, on their own terms, at a time of their choosing, and by achieving the objectives they set. We are ready to give a befitting reply.'
Modi praised the Indian armed forces for their actions in the four-day military confrontation with Pakistan, codenamed Operation Sindoor. 'Destruction inflicted by our armed forces in Pakistan was so widespread, new revelations are being made every day,' he said, adding that India's neighbor was punished in ways 'beyond imagination.'
🇮🇳 79th #IndependenceDay: Modi Raises 🇮🇳 Flag at Red Fort for National Anthem https://t.co/CQdborXLiNpic.twitter.com/qdO2nL0A48
On Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke out against India's decision in May to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, a water-sharing agreement between the South Asian neighbors.
'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 from Pakistan,' Sharif said. 'You threaten to stop our water. If you attempt such a move, Pakistan will teach you a lesson you will never forget.'
On Friday, Modi called the 1960 treaty that was facilitated by the World Bank as 'unjust and one-sided,' and said Indian farmers had the right to use water from the Indus River and its tributaries.
'What kind of agreement was it? In the last seven decades, farmers have suffered unimaginable losses,' he stated. 'The right to water belongs to India and to the farmers.'
Modi added that 'blood and water won't flow together.'
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