NEW DELHI: India on Thursday issued a stern warning to Pakistan over a series of provocative remarks by its top leadership, cautioning that any “misadventure” would be met with “painful consequences.” The External Affairs Ministry condemned what it called a “continuing pattern of reckless, war-mongering and hateful comments” from Islamabad. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the rhetoric was part of a “well-known modus operandi” by Pakistan to stoke anti-India sentiment and distract from internal failures.“Pakistan would be well-advised to temper its rhetoric as any misadventure will have painful consequences, as was demonstrated recently,” Jaiswal said at a press briefing.The Indian response came days after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared that India would not be allowed to take “even one drop” of water belonging to Pakistan. His comments followed New Delhi’s April 23 decision to place the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) “in abeyance” a day after a terror attack in Pahalgam killed 26 people.“If you threaten to hold our water, you cannot snatch even one drop of Pakistan,” Sharif said at a ceremony in Islamabad, warning that India would be “taught a lesson.”Echoing his stance, former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari likened the suspension of the IWT to an “attack on the Indus Valley Civilisation,” asserting that Pakistan would not back down if “forced into war.”Meanwhile, Pakistani Army Chief Gen Asim Munir, on a visit to the United States, vowed to “destroy any dam” India might build to block water flow, declaring that “the Indus River is not the Indians’ family property.”India strongly rebuked Munir’s remarks, calling them “nuclear sabre-rattling” and a dangerous indication of the Pakistani military’s proximity to terrorist groups. “Such threats will not deter India from safeguarding its security,” the MEA stated, adding regret that the remarks were made “from the soil of a friendly third country.”New Delhi also rejected a recent Award by the Court of Arbitration on the IWT, reiterating its longstanding position.“India has never accepted the legality, legitimacy, or competence of the so-called Court of Arbitration. Its pronouncements are therefore without jurisdiction, devoid of legal standing, and have no bearing on India’s rights of utilisation of waters,” the MEA said.In a dramatic intervention, BJP leader and actor Mithun Chakraborty warned Pakistan of a “series of BrahMos missiles” and, in a bizarre aside, claimed India would build a dam where “140 crore Indians” would relieve themselves before releasing its contents across the border. Chakraborty later clarified that his remarks targeted Pakistan’s establishment, not its people.
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