O F COURSE, Pakistan knows that its nuclear sabrerattling is not ever going to intimidate India in any manner.Yet, when its Army chief General Asim Munir decided to threaten India from the American soil, India needed to tell him in no uncertain terms that it would never entertain any nuclear blackmail. In fact, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, too, had stated unequivocally after “Operation Sindoor” that India would never give in to any nuclear blackmail. Yet, Pakistan Army chief chose to issue a threat of use of nuclear weapons to destroy India. That was the reason why India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) felt compelled to tell Pakistan to stop the nonsense. Of course, Pakistan is never going to give up its wrong habits, and India will tell Islamabad -- and the world -- that it would hit back the hardest if Pakistan indulged in misadventures.

 

When Mr. Narendra Modi said post-“Op Sindoor” that India would never give in to Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail, he knew that Indian forces had already damaged beyond repair its nuclear assets at one of its most critical sites. During “Op Sindoor”, India’s Brahmos missile was precise enough to hit at Pakistan’s nuclear site through an air-conditioning vent 45cm x 45 cm, in the process damaging nearly completely the nuclear command-and-control hub. Maybe, in the intervening months, Pakistan has repaired those damaged assets. Hence General Munir’s threat. Or, maybe, those assets still stand damaged, but General Munir indulged in habitual lietelling -- and that, too, from the American soil. Does that show American complicity in the dirty Pakistani designs ? Does that also mean that the United States is a game to stoop so low that it would not mind a minion like Pakistan to use its soil to issue a threat to India ? Does that not suggest that the US may be the mastermind of such a move by Pakistan -- with an idea of pushing Indian into submission in the ongoing trade tariff war ?

 

Upon the correct answers to these questions depends the future course of international diplomacy in the coming times. For, as many experts suspect, US President Mr. Donald Trump has all the shrewd propensities to use Pakistan to corner India. That India would never yield to such pressure, may not occur to Mr. Trump as he has gone blind with rage and is engaged in another kind of sabre-rattling not just with India but also with many other countries. However, with India, Mr. Trump is all the more angry. For, he had thought most sincerely that India would do things to his bidding. And since that has not happened, Mr. Trump is terribly upset -- with India, with Mr. Narendra Modi, with India purchase of oil from Russia ... with everything India does or chooses not to do. He is upset that his ‘friend’ Modi is not listening to him. He does not mind what the world does; he is more interested in the Indian submission (read‘surrender’) to the American fancy. And since that has not happened, Mr. Trump is livid. General Munir’s threat appears to have stemmed from the Trump rage. General Munir was in Washington for whatever purpose.

 

He appears to have taken over the reins of Pakistan government, which is why Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is not seen in such critical engagements. These details apart, Pakistan must not forget that India of today is an altogether different nation. Today’s India will never take any threat lying down -- which the MEA’s assertion has made clear. If Pakistan does not understand this, it is doing so to its own peril, at its own risk. For, India of today is far better prepared than at any moment in the past, to protect its comprehensive interests. To such a nation, threat by a minion like Pakistan does not make any sense. That Pakistan does not understand this is its misfortune. And it has invited this because it has passed its reins to the military blockheads who understand nothing about diplomacy