- ISPR warns fabricated pretexts could spark regional instability.
- Pakistan vows swift, decisive response to any aggression.
- Military says it can hit “deepest reaches” of India.
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.
A day earlier, Indian Air Force Chief Amar Preet Singh claimed that India downed five Pakistani fighter jets of the F-16 and JF-17 class during the intense fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.
“As far as air defence part is concerned, we have evidence of one long range strike…along with that five fighters, high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF-17 class, our system tells us,” Singh told reporters at the Indian Air Force annual day press conference.
However, he did not provide any evidence to back his claim.
In today’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.
After the incident, India killed several innocent civilians in unprovoked attacks on Pakistan for three days before the Pakistan Armed Forces retaliated in defence with the successful Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos.
Pakistan downed six IAF fighter jets, including three Rafale, and dozens of drones. After at least 87 hours, the war between the two nuclear-armed nations ended on May 10 with a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.
