‘Fresh conflict may lead to cataclysmic devastation’, Pakistan Army warns

RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Army on Saturday warned that “provocative and jingoistic remarks” from senior Indian security officials risk fabricating pretexts for aggression and could lead to “cataclysmic devastation,” according to a statement issued by the military’s media wing.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that such remarks suggested a renewed attempt to manufacture arbitrary pretexts for aggression that would have “serious consequences for peace and stability in South Asia”.
The Pakistan Army issued the remarks following provocative remarks by Indian military officials amid heightened tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi in the backdrop of a four-day armed conflict in May this year.
In Saturday’s statement, the Pakistan military slammed India for long portraying itself as a victim while “stoking violence and perpetrating terrorism in South Asia and beyond”, saying that this narrative has been debunked.
The ISPR added that the international community now recognises India as “the true face of cross-border terrorism and the epi-centre of regional instability”.
Referring to incidents earlier this year, the ISPR said Indian aggression had previously brought “two nuclear powers to the brink of a major war”, and criticised Indian leadership for apparently ignoring the “wreckage of its fighter jets and the wrath of Pakistan’s long-range vectors”.
Responding to recent comments by India’s defence minister and service chiefs, the military cautioned that a fresh round of hostilities “might lead to cataclysmic devastation”.
It further warned that Pakistan “shall not hold back” and “shall resolutely respond, without any qualms or restraint” if hostilities are triggered.
The statement added that those seeking to establish a “new normal” should be aware that Pakistan has itself established a new normal of response “which will be swift, decisive and destructive”.
It said that the Armed Forces and the people of Pakistan have the capability and resolve “to take the fight to every nook and corner of the enemy’s territory”, adding that Islamabad would “shatter the myth of geographic immunity, hitting the farthest reaches of the Indian territory”.
On rhetoric about erasing Pakistan from the map, the ISPR said India “must know that if the situation comes, the erasure will be mutual.”
The May fighting, the worst between the old foes in decades, was sparked by a terrorist attack on tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) Pahalgam area, which New Delhi said was backed by Pakistan.
Islamabad denied involvement in the Kashmir attack, which killed 26 men and was the worst assault on civilians in India since the Mumbai attacks in 2008. Staff Report