Top News

New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) The Congress on Monday strongly condemned Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir's remarks, in which he directed a nuclear threat at India from US soil, and said it is bizarre that the American establishment is giving such a man such special treatment.

In an address to the Pakistani diaspora in Florida's Tampa, Munir reportedly made the nuclear threat in case his country faced an existential threat in a future war with India.

The Pakistan Army chief also warned that Islamabad would destroy Indian infrastructure, if New Delhi hit water flow to Pakistan.

"We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we will take half the world down with us," media reports quoted Munir as saying.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that on April 16, General Munir made incendiary, inflammatory and communally-poisonous remarks that provided oxygen to the brutal terror attacks at Pahalgam six days later.

"On 18th June, 2025, Field Marshal Asim Munir is invited by President Trump for an unprecedented luncheon meeting in the White House," Ramesh said.

On August 8, Munir was in Tampa for a farewell function for the chief of the US Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, who had earlier praised Pakistan as a "phenomenal partner" in counter-terrorism operations, the Congress leader pointed out.

"On 10th August, 2025, in a talk to US diaspora Pakistanis, Field Marshal Asim Munir makes the most dangerous, provocative, and totally unacceptable remarks on nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan," he said.

The Congress condemns these remarks in the strongest possible terms, Ramesh added.

"It is bizarre that the US establishment is giving such a man such special treatment," he said.

Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan's "stock-in-trade", New Delhi had said, in a strong response to Munir's nuclear threat directed at India from the US soil.

India had said Munir's remarks reinforced the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in Pakistan, where the military is "hand-in-glove" with terrorist groups.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India has already made it clear that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail and that it will continue to take all steps necessary to safeguard national security.

It is also regrettable that these remarks should have been made from the soil of a friendly third country, the MEA said, in an apparent message to the United States. PTI ASK RC