By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Sunday warned that any renewed aggression from India would trigger a robust response, accusing New Delhi of attempting to rebuild its image after setbacks in a brief May 2025 border conflict.
Asif’s comments came after India’s army chief, General Upendra Dwivedi, told troops near the Pakistan border on Friday that Islamabad must halt “backing terror” to “remain on the world map.” Dwivedi said India would not show the restraint it exercised during the May clashes, where Indian forces claimed to have hit nine targets in Pakistan, killing over 100 soldiers and militants.
The four-day conflict in May, the fiercest between the nuclear-armed neighbors in years, involved missile, drone, and artillery strikes before a US-brokered ceasefire took effect.
“Indian military and political leaders’ statements are a failed attempt to restore their lost credibility,” Asif wrote on X. “After such a decisive defeat with a score of 0–6, if they try again, the score, God willing, will be much better than before. … This time India will be buried under the wreckage of its own planes.”
Pakistan said it downed six Indian jets, including Rafales, during the May fighting. India confirmed some losses but disputed the number. The conflict was sparked by an April attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir, which killed 26 people, marking the deadliest civilian attack in India since the 2008 Mumbai assaults. India alleged Pakistan’s involvement, which Islamabad denied.
Pakistan’s military labeled Dwivedi’s remarks “delusional, provocative and jingoistic,” warning that renewed hostilities “might lead to cataclysmic devastation” and that Pakistan “shall not hold back.”
“Those seeking to establish a new normal must know that Pakistan has established a new normal of response, which will be swift, decisive and destructive,” the military’s Inter-Services Public Relations said, adding that any bid to erase Pakistan from the map “will be mutual.”
Ties between the two nations, which have fought three wars since their 1947 independence, including two over Kashmir, have worsened since the April attack, affecting trade, travel, and sports. Both countries remain in a diplomatic deadlock, exchanging accusations of cross-border militancy and provocations.
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