-MEA slams provocative rhetoric, cites Operation Sindoor as recent example of resolve

New Delhi, August 14 (HS): India on Thursday issued a sharp warning to Pakistan’s political leadership, urging restraint in public rhetoric and cautioning that any cross-border misadventure would be met with severe and painful consequences. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) pointed to Operation Sindoor as a clear and recent demonstration of India’s capacity and willingness to respond decisively.

Addressing the weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal condemned the “reckless, warmongering, and hate-filled remarks” recently made by Pakistani leaders against India. Such statements, he said, were part of a habitual pattern wherein Islamabad seeks to divert attention from its domestic failures by staging aggressive, anti‑India posturing.

“Pakistan is advised to exercise restraint in its statements. Any act of misadventure will have painful consequences, as was clearly demonstrated recently,” Jaiswal stated.

Clear Stand on Indus Waters Treaty

The spokesperson also reiterated India’s firm position on the Indus Waters Treaty and the ongoing arbitration proceedings, asserting that New Delhi has never accepted the legality, justification, or competence of the Court of Arbitration on the matter. Consequently, any verdict emanating from it, he said, is beyond jurisdiction, legally void, and without impact on India’s water usage rights.

India also dismissed as “selective and misleading” the references made by Pakistan regarding recent decisions on the dispute. Jaiswal reminded that New Delhi had already announced the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty on June 27 under a sovereign decision of the Government of India — a step taken in direct response to Pakistan’s continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism and the barbaric terror attack in Pahalgam.

Message of Deterrence

By linking its warning to Operation Sindoor, the government effectively underlined that deterrence is not merely rhetorical. The operation, executed recently, served both as a tactical success and a strategic signal to Islamabad of the cost of aggression.

With Independence Day commemorations approaching, India’s statement sends an unambiguous message: provocations, whether verbal or on the ground, will not go unanswered.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar