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‘From the soil of a friendly country': India calls Munir's ‘nuclear sabre rattling' from US ‘regrettable'
Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (C) prays after laying wreath on the martyrs' monument during a guard of honor ceremony at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Handout/Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) via AFP)
India on Monday condemned Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir's threat of nuclear strikes made at an event in the United States.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan's stock-in-trade and is evidence of the links between the country's military and terrorist groups.
'The international community can draw its own conclusions on the irresponsibility inherent in such remarks, which also reinforce the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in a state where the military is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups,' the MEA said.
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The MEA further flagged the United States providing a platform for such rhetoric.
'It is also regrettable that these remarks should have been made from the soil of a friendly third country,' the MEA said.
Last week, Munir said at a black-tie dinner in the US state of Florida that 'we [Pakistan] are a nuclear nation, if we think we are going down, we'll take half the world down with us', according to The Print.
Munir further threatened to blow up India's dams over the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty: 'We will wait for India to build a dam, and when it does so, phir 10 missile sey faarigh kar dengey [we will destroy it with 10 missiles]. The Indus river is not the Indians' family property. Humein missilon ki kami nahin hai, al-Hamdulillah [we have no shortage of missiles, Praise be to God].'
The MEA further said that India 'will not give in to nuclear blackmail' and will 'continue to take all steps necessary to safeguard our national security'.
Munir's statement came at a time when Pakistan and the United States have got closer under Donald Trump. The US-Pakistan closeness has coincided with Trump's campaign against India —which ranges from a tariff war, meddling in the Kashmir issue, undermining of the Indian position on Operation Sindoor, and an alliance with India's adversaries— that has plunged the bilateral relationship to its lowest point in many and threatens to undo decades of progress in ties.
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