- Pakistan fully prepared to respond with decisive force: Asif.
- Says it was told in briefing that aggression from India is expected.
- “If Indian rulers try to stop Pakistan’s water, they will drown in it.”
As tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours continue to simmer following the attack on tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday warned that a military confrontation with India has become inevitable and could break out at any moment.
“Pakistan is fully prepared to respond with decisive force… if India attempts to occupy even an inch of our land, it will prove to be a costly misadventure,” he said while speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’.
Relations between the two arch-rivals have nosedived since gunmen killed 26 people on April 22 in an attack targeting tourists in Pahalgam.
New Delhi linked Islamabad to the attack without offering any evidence and took a flurry of punitive measures to downgrade ties, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, revoking visas of Pakistanis, and closing Wagah-Attari border crossing, among others.
Islamabad, in response, ordered the expulsion of Indian diplomats and military advisers, cancelling visas for Indian nationals, with the exception of Sikh pilgrims, and closing the main border crossing from its side.
Pakistan also denies involvement in the attack and offered to take part in a credible and transparent investigation.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif along with the defence minister visited the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on Tuesday, where they were briefed on the country’s preparation for a “conventional threat”.
“The visit entailed a detailed briefing on the prevailing security environment, with a particular focus on preparedness for [a] conventional threat in the light of India’s increasingly aggressive and provocative posture along Pakistan’s eastern border,” a statement from the PM Office (PMO) said.
“The leadership was apprised of regional security developments and the evolving threat matrix, including conventional military options, hybrid warfare tactics and terrorist proxies,” it added.
When asked about the high-level briefing during today’s progarmme, Asif said it was told that aggression from India is expected.
However, he warned that Pakistan was fully prepared to respond to any Indian aggression, cautioning that New Delhi’s ambitions will carry dire consequences.
The minister also issued a scathing warning to India over water-related provocations, saying, “If Indian rulers try to stop Pakistan’s water, they will drown in the same waters.”
He added that any construction by India aimed at blocking Pakistan’s water flow will be destroyed.
In response to a question, Asif said, “There’s no restriction on dreaming — but the Indian leadership’s dreams will remain just that: dreams.”
He added that Pakistan will not sit idle in the face of threats. “We are fully prepared. We will not stay silent with our hands tied.”
Asif also pointed out a recent incident involving Indian Rafale jets flying close to the border, saying that their systems were jammed.
