‘Madness and warmongering’: ISPR responds to Indian army chief’s provocative remarks

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Sunday strongly criticised recent comments by Indian Army Chief Upendra Dwivedi, calling them “provocative” and warning that any attempt to drag South Asia into another conflict would have “devastating” consequences for the entire region.

The ISPR was responding to remarks attributed to the Indian army chief in a recent interview, in which he reportedly suggested Pakistan should decide whether it wanted to remain part of “geography and history”.

Rejecting the comments, the military’s media wing said Pakistan is “already a country of consequence at the global level,” describing it as a declared nuclear power and an “indelible part” of South Asia’s geography and history.

The ISPR argued the statement reflected India’s inability to come to terms with Pakistan’s existence even more than seven decades after independence.

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According to the military’s media wing, such “hubristic, jingoistic and myopic thinking” has repeatedly driven South Asia into wars and crises in the past.

It added that threatening a sovereign nuclear state with removal from “geography” is not strategic signalling but instead demonstrates a “bankruptcy of cognitive capacities, madness and warmongering”.

The statement warned any such conflict would not remain limited in scope and said the fallout of any attempt at geographic obliteration would be “mutual and comprehensive”.

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The ISPR urged responsible nuclear powers to show restraint, maturity and strategic responsibility, rather than invoking the language of “civilisational supremacy or national erasure”.

It called on Indian leaders to avoid creating conditions that could spark another regional crisis, cautioned that any future war would have severe repercussions beyond South Asia, and urged New Delhi to acknowledge Pakistan’s regional significance and pursue peaceful coexistence.

“Otherwise, any attempt to target Pakistan can trigger consequences that shall neither be geographically confined nor strategically or politically palatable for India,” the statement added.

The ISPR also accused India of overlooking its own record in the region, alleging New Delhi has sponsored terrorism, destabilised neighbouring countries and run global disinformation campaigns.

It said India’s aggressive rhetoric reflected frustration at its failure to undermine Pakistan, particularly after what the ISPR called “Marka-e-Haq,” a reference to last year’s military escalation between the two countries.