Khawaja Asif warns India against any future military misadventure

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday that India would face severe consequences if it launched any future action against Pakistan, while also commenting on regional tensions, Afghanistan, Iran and reports about a possible constitutional amendment.

Speaking in an interview on Geo News programme Capital Talk, Asif referred to last year’s confrontation with India that began after the April 22 Pahalgam attack and continued until the May 10 ceasefire. He said Pakistan’s armed forces had delivered what he described as a devastating response during the conflict.

Asif said India believed its standing had been harmed by the episode. He warned that any fresh move against Pakistan would have far-reaching consequences for India.

“If India attempts any misadventure against Pakistan, it would be relegated to history and its geography would be changed,”

He also criticised recent remarks by Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, who had said Pakistan had to decide whether it wanted to remain part of geography or history. Asif said the Indian army chief was trying to recover lost prestige through such statements and added that India had been badly hit during Marka-i-Haq.

Remarks on India and regional standing

The defence minister also referred to comments by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh secretary general in favour of keeping the door for dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi open. He said there were critical voices within India as well and added that the positions of the Indian army and Indian civil society were not the same.

Asif further said Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, which India had viewed as its extension, no longer had the same kind of relationship with New Delhi. He said India was facing embarrassment on the diplomatic front, while Pakistan had attained what he described as a highly reputable position in the region.

On a question about a possible India-Israel nexus against Pakistan, Asif said there could be similarity in the objectives of the two countries. He said Israel did not want any state in the region to become more powerful than its partner, India.

He also discussed the Indus Waters Treaty, saying the agreement between Pakistan and India had remained in force for 66 years. He said the recent Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling on the treaty had gone in Pakistan’s favour and added that the pact contained a strong dispute resolution mechanism and could not be suspended unilaterally.

Comments on Iran and US role

Responding to a question about whether the United States and Israel could again attack Iran, Asif said he did not expect war to resume.

“My hunch is that war will not happen again.”

He said Israel strongly wanted attacks on Iran and possibly two or three other countries. He added that public opinion in the United States was clear on the Iran war and that Americans did not want their country to fight Israel’s war. According to Asif, wars cannot be fought without public backing.

He said Israel’s real strength lay in its relationship with the United States and added that without American support, Israel could not remain stable. He also said it was an achievement that a superpower like the US showed trust in Pakistan, adding that Iran also trusted Pakistan. He said Pakistan’s brotherly countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, China and Russia, did not want war to return to Iran.

Afghanistan and constitutional amendment reports

Asif said that in recent meetings with Afghanistan’s Defence Minister Mullah Yaqoob, he had told him that Afghanistan’s enemy in the past had also been Pakistan’s enemy, and questioned why Pakistan’s enemies were no longer treated the same way by Kabul. He said that if Afghanistan could not oppose Pakistan’s enemies, it should at least not befriend them, shelter them or arm them.

In response to another question, Asif said he agreed that India had made certain gains in Afghanistan. He added that Afghanistan was acting as a proxy for India against Pakistan.

The minister also rejected the impression that a proposed 28th constitutional amendment had been placed before the cabinet.

“Absolutely not.”

He said Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar had also denied that any discussion on a constitutional amendment was expected in the near future, adding that he had no knowledge of any such deliberations.

ISPR response to Indian army chief

A day earlier, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had strongly objected to General Dwivedi’s remarks and warned India against pushing South Asia towards another conflict with devastating consequences for the region.

In a statement, the military’s media wing said the Indian army chief had made a provocative comment in a recent interview by saying Pakistan should decide whether it wanted to be part of geography and history. The ISPR said Pakistan was already a country of consequence at the global level, a declared nuclear power and an indelible part of South Asia’s geography and history.

The statement further said that threatening a sovereign nuclear neighbour with elimination from geography was neither strategic signalling nor brinkmanship, but reflected cognitive bankruptcy, madness and warmongering. It warned that any such geographic obliteration would be mutual and comprehensive.