‘Will be removed from world map for any misadventure’: India hits back at Pak’s IWT ‘threat’

New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) Leaders across the political spectrum on Friday strongly reacted to Islamabad’s “threat” regarding the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), warning that Pakistan “will be removed from the world map if it attempts any misadventure”.

The reactions came after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a “direct response” threat, saying that the country “won’t compromise on water issue as it is the nation’s red line”.

India has maintained that the Indus Water Treaty will remain in abeyance until Pakistan completely stops cross-border terrorism.

Speaking to IANS on the matter, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said: “India works strictly in its own national interest. Whatever power there may be in the world…what stature does Pakistan even have? We work in our own interest and we defend our interests resolutely.”

Criticising Pakistan, BJP National Spokesperson R.P. Singh said: “Shehbaz Sharif may have forgotten the state that Pakistan was reduced to during Operation Sindoor last year, the way their (terror) infrastructures and airports were destroyed. If they attempt any misadventure, Pakistan will get removed from the world map forever.”

Echoing similar view, Congress MP Tariq Anwar said: “There is a reason why India has kept the IWT in abeyance. The way terrorist activities are being conducted on part of Pakistan and given the recent attacks in Kashmir which claimed the lives of innocents, it is very difficult for India to maintain relations with Pakistan.”

Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said: “Recently in ‘Operation Sindoor’, you must have seen how our Indian Armed Forces showed them every kind of line — red, yellow, blue.”

“Therefore, India should not seriously consider anything that Pakistan says. India possesses the capability to give a befitting reply to everything they do with a thousand times greater force. On this matter, the entire nation stands firmly with the Government of India and with the Indian Armed Forces,” he told IANS.

Recently, India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, has said that the IWT was signed in a spirit of goodwill and friendship in 1960, but Pakistan spent 50 years dismantling this, and its abeyance “merely acknowledges what Pakistan’s conduct had already destroyed”.

–IANS

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