NEW DELHI, August 11. /TASS/. India will not succumb to nuclear blackmail from Pakistan, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.
"Our attention has been drawn to remarks reportedly made by the Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff while on a visit to the United States. Nuclear saber-rattling is Pakistan’s stock-in-trade," he wrote in a statement. "India has already made it clear that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail. We will continue to take all necessary steps to safeguard our national security," Jaiswal said.
According to him, "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."
"It is also regrettable that these remarks were made on the soil of a friendly third country," the diplomat emphasized.
According to India’s NDTV channel, Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff General Asim Munir, speaking on August 10 to a gathering of Pakistanis in Florida, warned of the possibility of nuclear war if his country faced an existential threat in a future conflict with India. The TV channel noted that these are the first known nuclear threats ever made on US soil against a third country.
Munir also threatened to destroy any Indian infrastructure built on the Indus water channels that could interfere with the flow of water to Pakistan. The defense official added that his country has no shortage of missiles. Munir added that New Delhi's decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam terrorist attack in April could endanger the lives of 250 million people due to potential famine.