In chilling retort, army rebukesIndian threat

ISPR says Indian COAS' 'geography' remarks reflect 'bankruptcy of cognitive capacities'

ISLAMABAD:

The Army on Sunday rebuked the Indian army chief for his threatening remarks, warning that such "geographic obliteration would certainly be mutual and comprehensive," in a renewed war of words between the two nuclear-armed neighbours just days after some voices from within India including RSS called for dialogue with Islamabad.

At an interactive session in New Delhi on Saturday, Indian Chief of Army Staff Gen Dwivedi was asked about how the Indian army will respond if the "circumstances that led to Operation Sindoor last year" arose again, the Press Trust of India reported.

The Indian army chief repeated New Delhi's terrorism allegations against Pakistan, which Islamabad has rejected outright, and said that Pakistan had "to decide whether they want to be part of geography or history or not".

Reacting to the statement, the military's media wing said that contrary to the delusional and hallucinational belief system and despite the omnipresent ill wishes that prevail in Hindutva-led India, Pakistan is already a country of consequence at global level, a declared nuclear power and an indelible part of South Asia's geography and history.

"The statement reflects that the Indian leadership has neither been able to reconcile with the very idea of Pakistan nor it has learnt the right lessons, even after passage of eight decades. This hubristic, jingoistic and myopic mindset has repeatedly pushed South Asia towards wars and crises," read the hard-hitting statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Threatening a sovereign nuclear neighbour with elimination from "geography" is not strategic signalling or brinkmanship; it is sheer bankruptcy of cognitive capacities, madness and warmongering despite knowing the reality that such geographic obliteration would certainly be mutual and comprehensive. Responsible nuclear states reflect restraint, maturity, and strategic sobriety, according to the statement.

It further said they do not speak the language of civilisational supremacy or national erasure.

Indian narrative conveniently ignores India's own historically documented record of being a harbinger of terrorism in the region, a state sponsor of terrorism, key source of regional instability, practitioner of transnational assassinations and a hotbed of disinformation campaign across the globe.

Delhi's aggressive posturing stems less from confidence and more from frustration at its inability to harm Pakistan, that has been brutally exposed during Marka-e-Haq. Indian leadership would be well advised not to attempt to push South Asia towards another crisis or war whose consequences would only be devastating for the complete region and beyond.

India needs to reconcile with Pakistan's salience and learn to peacefully co-exist with it. Otherwise, any attempt to target Pakistan can trigger consequences that shall neither be geographically confined nor strategically or politically palatable for India, according to the ISPR statement.