New Delhi, 14 Aug

India on Thursday warned Pakistan of "painful consequences" to "any misadventure" targeting it and advised the neighbouring country to desist from "war-mongering" and "hateful" rhetoric.

New Delhi's strong reaction came in response to Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir's nuclear threat as well as offensive comments against India by several Pakistani leaders including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.

"We have seen reports regarding a continuing pattern of reckless, war-mongering and hateful comments from Pakistani leadership against India," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.

"It is well known modus-operandi of the Pakistani leadership to whip up anti-India rhetoric time and again to hide their own failures.

"Pakistan would be well-advised to temper its rhetoric as any misadventure will have painful consequences as was demonstrated recently," Jaiswal said in an indirect reference to India's Operation Sindoor.

In an address to Pakistani diaspora in Florida's Tampa last week, Munir reportedly said that Pakistan could use its nuclear weapons to take down India and "half the world" in case his country faced an existential threat in a future war with India.

The Pakistani Army chief also warned that Islamabad would destroy Indian infrastructure if they hit water flow to Pakistan.

In response to Munir's remarks, India on Monday said his threat reinforced the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in that country where the military is "hand-in-glove" with terrorist groups.

New Delhi once again made it clear that it will not give in to any nuclear blackmail. The civilian leadership of Pakistan too has been upping the ante against India in the last few days.

In his remarks at an event in Islamabad early this week, Sharif vowed to teach India "a lesson" if it tried to control the flow of water of cross-border rivers.

"I want to tell the enemy today that if you threaten to stop our water, then keep this in mind that you cannot snatch even one drop from Pakistan," he had said.

India launched Operation Sindoor on 7 May, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on 10 May.

 Jaiswal also trashed a ruling this week by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on cross-border rivers between the two countries. In the ruling, the Court of Arbitration said India should allow flow of the waters of the western rivers under the Indus Waters Treaty for Pakistan's unrestricted use.

"India has never accepted the legality, legitimacy or competence of the so-called Court of Arbitration. Its pronouncements are therefore without jurisdiction, devoid of legal standing, and have no bearing on India's rights of utilisation of waters," Jaiswal said.

"India also categorically rejects Pakistan's selective and misleading references to the so-called 'award'," he said.

The spokesperson also referred to a statement issued by India on 27 June that said the Indus Waters Treaty "stands in abeyance".

"The Indus Waters Treaty stands in abeyance by a sovereign decision of the Government of India, taken in response to Pakistan's continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism, including the barbaric Pahalgam attack," he said.