Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated further on Monday, as former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari directly invoked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while issuing a war warning. His remarks came barely 24 hours after Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, threatened missile strikes against India.
Speaking at an official event in Sindh province, Bilawal — son of former PM Benazir Bhutto — accused New Delhi of undermining the Indus Waters Treaty. He warned that if another confrontation arises, Pakistan will seize the entire Indus River and its five tributaries. “The people of Pakistan have the strength to face Modi in war,” he declared, framing any dispute over the Indus as an assault on Pakistan’s history, culture, and civilisation.
The aggressive rhetoric followed Munir’s statement from the United States, where he warned that if India builds dams on the Indus, Pakistan would wait until they are completed and then destroy them with “ten missiles.” Munir also compared the two nations to a shiny Mercedes and a gravel-loaded truck, hinting that Pakistan would cause maximum damage in any collision.
India swiftly condemned Munir’s comments. The Ministry of External Affairs called them “irresponsible” and said they only reinforced global concerns about nuclear weapons in the hands of a military that works hand-in-glove with terrorist groups. “India will not bow to nuclear threats,” the statement added.
The Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960, governs the sharing of the Indus and its tributaries between India and Pakistan. In April this year, India suspended the agreement after a terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir, which it blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
With both military and political voices in Pakistan now using the Indus dispute to issue open threats, the war of words between the two nuclear-armed neighbours has entered a dangerous phase.
