Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir’s latest anti-India rhetoric and nuclear threat from American soil have set alarm bells ringing in New Delhi, with government sources warning that his visit and the red-carpet treatment he appears to be receiving could embolden him to seize full control of Islamabad.
“Emboldened by the reception and welcome by the US, the next step could possibly be a silent or open coup in Pakistan so that the Field Marshal becomes the President,” a senior government source told PTI.
The comments come in the wake of Munir’s nuclear war threat delivered from Florida’s Tampa, where he addressed the Pakistani diaspora. His statement was chilling in its bluntness: “We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us,” media reports quoted him as saying.
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In Tampa, he not only threatened Armageddon in case of a future war with India but also vowed to destroy Indian infrastructure, particularly targeting New Delhi’s water projects on the Indus River. The remarks clearly reflected his frustration over New Delhi’s decision to put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance since the Pahalgam terror attack in April this year.
His rhetoric was laced with hostility: “We will wait for India to build a dam, and when it does so, phir 10 missile sey faarigh kar dengey (we will destroy it with 10 missiles).” He insisted that the Indus River is not India’s “family property” and claimed Pakistan has “no shortage of missiles.”
India lambasts Munir’s remarks
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has condemned Munir’s threat of nuclear war, saying that nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan's stock-in-trade, and reiterated that New Delhi will not give in to nuclear blackmail.
The ministry said it was regrettable that Munir made remarks from the soil of a friendly third country and stressed that India will continue to take all steps to safeguard its national security.
"The international community can draw its own conclusions on the irresponsibility inherent in such remarks, which also reinforces the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in a state where the military is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups," the Ministry said in a statement.
Sources in the Indian government earlier said that Munir’s remarks reflected Pakistan’s nature as an “irresponsible” nuclear-armed state. They noted a recurring pattern in which the Pakistani military “shows its true colours” whenever it enjoys backing from the United States.
"Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir's comments show that Pakistan is an irresponsible state with nuclear weapons...Pakistan Army Chief's statement is part of a pattern; whenever the US supports the Pakistan military, they always show their true colours," the sources said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
They further stressed that the comments from Pakistan’s de facto military ruler underline the risk of nuclear weapons potentially falling into the hands of non-state actors in the country. "It is a symptom that democracy doesn't exist in Pakistan; it is their military that controls," they added.
The US angle: Enabling a military-first Pakistan
According to government sources, Munir’s performance in Tampa fits into a troubling pattern: whenever Washington supports the Pakistan military, the generals drop the pretence of diplomacy and revert to aggressive posturing.
By hosting Munir in the US for the second time in just two months, Washington has not only legitimised a uniformed leader’s provocative nuclear threats but potentially encouraged his domestic ambitions. India sees this as a dangerous precedent.
The sources’ coup remark reflects deep suspicion in New Delhi that the Pakistani military, already the ultimate power centre in Islamabad, could push aside civilian authorities altogether, either subtly or through an outright takeover. Munir’s current popularity in Washington may be a signal that such a move would face little US resistance.
During Munir’s last visit to the US in June, the world witnessed a rare instance of Trump hosting a country’s Army chief in the Oval office, treating him like a head of state. That meeting culminated in Trump's announcement of enhanced US-Pakistan cooperation in various fields, including an oil deal.
Munir, for his part, went all out in praising Trump, even endorsing him for a Nobel Peace Prize for allegedly “stopping the war” between India and Pakistan in May this year -- a claim the US President has echoed multiple times, but one that New Delhi has consistently and strongly rejected.
Pakistan’s democracy problem and nuclear danger
News agency PTI quoted government sources pointing out that Munir’s swagger in Florida only underscores what India has long argued: Pakistan is not a genuine democracy. “It is their military which controls the country,” one source said, adding that a general with his finger on the nuclear button, rather than a civilian government, is the real cause of instability in South Asia.
India has consistently warned that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is at risk of falling into the hands of non-state actors, especially given the military’s ties to terror proxies. “Will the US hold Pakistan accountable for such irresponsible and provocative comments from its soil, as President Donald Trump has time and again spoken about containing nuclear conflict?” a source asked.
Link to terrorism and Kashmir rhetoric
Munir’s nuclear bluster was accompanied by a renewed pitch on Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein.” Government sources see this as a dog whistle for militancy, especially since weeks before the Pahalgam terror attack, Munir had declared Hindus and Muslims could not live together.
That attack, they note, was marked by cold-blooded executions of victims after being asked their religion -- a chilling echo of the Army Chief’s earlier divisive remarks. “This statement is a signal that more terrorist attacks would be undertaken and cover would be the Pakistan missile and nuclear capabilities,” the source warned.
Why this matters now
Munir’s US visit may be framed as a diplomatic outreach, but in New Delhi’s eyes, it looks more like a victory lap for Pakistan’s military supremacy, complete with open nuclear threats, anti-India rhetoric, and thinly veiled water war warnings.
For India, the danger is two-fold: an emboldened Pakistani military chief possibly eyeing the presidency, and a Washington willing to look the other way as long as it serves short-term strategic purposes.
In the words of one government source, “Pakistan’s reckless nuclear threats have not deterred India’s resolve to eliminate terrorism. But the global community must ask itself -- are nuclear weapons safe in the hands of such an irresponsible and rogue nation?”
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