Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir issued a dire warning that his country would be ready to unleash a nuclear war and destroy half the world if it ever faced an existential threat from India.
Extraordinarily, the field marshal made this threat at a formal black-tie dinner in Tampa, Florida. “We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us,” he declared, conjuring a vision of global Armageddon.
Munir, who has already made several outspoken and belligerent speeches in his short tenure, has consistently directed his rhetoric at India. On Saturday, he spoke at a dinner hosted by Pakistan’s consul general in Tampa, a Pakistani-American. The Print pieced together his remarks after speaking to several guests at the dinner, where mobile phones were not allowed.
The field marshal also issued a separate, combative warning over the Indus Waters Treaty, vowing to destroy any dam India might build on the Indus River. “We will wait for India to build a dam, and when it does so, phir 10 missile sey faarigh kar dengey [we will destroy it with 10 missiles],” he said.
He argued that the treaty was vital for Pakistan, and that its abrogation could leave 250 million Pakistanis facing starvation, The Print reported.
“The Indus is not the Indians’ family property. We have no shortage of missiles. Praise be to god,” Munir added, leaving little doubt about his intentions.
In Tampa, he also taunted India over the recent Four-Day War, which ended in a ceasefire. Munir calls the conflict Bunyaanum Marsoos — a phrase from the Quran likening those who fight for god to a solid wall. “The Indians should accept their losses,” he said, adding that Pakistan would reveal its own losses if India did the same. Quranic references, often woven into his speeches, are a signature of Munir’s style.
Munir was in the US for the farewell party of Centcom chief Gen. Michael Kurilla; South Asia falls within the US Army’s Centcom area of responsibility. After years of Washington accusing Pakistan of being a terrorist breeding ground, at a congressional hearing, Kurilla described Pakistan as “a phenomenal partner in the counter-terrorism world.”
The remark that infuriated India, coming just weeks after the Four-Day War in May. Munir insisted the US should treat both India and Pakistan as strategic partners.
In June, Munir became the first-ever Pakistan Army chief to have lunch with US President Donald Trump at the White House. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, was notably absent from the lunch.
Munir’s hard line is not new. but these are his most hawkish remarks yet.
In April, during a fiery speech in Islamabad just before the outbreak of hostilities between India and Pakistan, he declared that Kashmir was Pakistan’s “jugular vein” and insisted that “Hindu” India and Muslim Pakistan were fundamentally different nations.
“Our religion is different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That’s where the foundation of the two-nation theory was laid,” he said. “Our forefathers gave immense sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan. We know how to defend it.”
Days later, at an army passing-out parade in Abbottabad, he returned to the theme, saying the two-nation theory was based on the “fundamental belief that Muslims and Hindus are two separate nations… distinct in all aspects of life — religion, customs, traditions, thinking, and aspirations.”
The Print reported that about 120 people, mostly Pakistani-Americans, attended the Tampa dinner, where Western, rather than subcontinental, fare was served. The dishes were all marked as being “halal,” according to The Print.
There is still speculation over whether the Trump administration had any inkling that Munir would launch such a blistering verbal assault on India during his US visit.