India Slams Pakistan Army Chief’s Nuclear Threats from US Soil, Vows No Capitulation to ‘Blackmail’

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday issued a sharp rebuttal to inflammatory remarks reportedly made by Pakistan’s de facto military ruler, General Asim Munir, during his ongoing visit to the United States.

The statement, released on August 11, called nuclear sabre-rattling “Pakistan’s stock-in-trade” and said the comments reinforced “well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in a state where the military is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups.”

Image Source: MEA/FM on X

The MEA said: “It is also regrettable that these remarks should have been made from the soil of a friendly third country. India has already made it clear that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail. We will continue to take all steps necessary to safeguard our national security.”

Munir’s Threats in Florida

As reported by The Times of India’s Washington correspondent Chidanand Rajghatta, Munir, speaking at an event in Tampa, Florida, warned: “We will wait for India to build a dam, and when it does so, we will destroy it with ten missiles… The Indus River is not the Indians’ family property. We have no shortage of missiles, Alhumdulillah.”

He also issued a broader nuclear warning: “We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us.”

These remarks, widely circulated in Pakistani media but not independently verified, were made during Munir’s second US visit in two months.

Deepening US–Pakistan Military Ties

Munir’s Florida stop coincided with the retirement ceremony of US CENTCOM Commander General Michael Kurilla, who on July 26 received Pakistan’s Nishan-e-Imtiaz for his role in “pivoting American interest back to Pakistan” after two decades of strained ties. 

Munir also met Kurilla’s successor Admiral Brad Cooper and US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine -- a series of high-profile interactions that, according to analysts cited in TOI, have emboldened his rhetoric.

Recent Clashes and Expanded Threats

Linking his threats to recent clashes with India, Munir claimed “innocent civilians” had been martyred and repeated that “Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein.” 

Indian security assessments connect the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack -- in which 26 civilians were massacred by Pakistani terrorists -- to earlier incendiary statements by Munir.

He also threatened that any Pakistani offensive would “start from India’s East… and then move westwards,” while mocking New Delhi’s trade frictions with Washington and boasting of Islamabad’s balancing act between the US and China.