Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated sharply after a series of provocative statements from Pakistani political and military leaders over the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).
On Monday, former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned of war if India proceeded with altering the treaty. Speaking at a Sindh government event, Bhutto accused New Delhi of "barbarism" and claimed that Pakistan was prepared to confront any threat to its water rights. He declared that "every Pakistani is ready to fight" and vowed to "reclaim all six rivers," framing any Indian move to alter the IWT as an act of aggression Pakistan would not tolerate.
Bhutto’s remarks came just a day after Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, issued a more direct nuclear threat during a speech in Tampa, Florida. Munir warned that Pakistan was ready to “take half the world down” in a nuclear confrontation if it faced an existential threat from India. He also threatened to destroy any Indian-built dam on the Indus with “ten missiles,” dismissing Indian claims over the river. In an unusual moment of candor, Munir compared the two nations’ economic and strategic positions, likening India to “a Mercedes coming on a highway like a Ferrari” and Pakistan to “a dump truck full of gravel” — implying that Pakistan’s only leverage lay in its ability to cause catastrophic damage.
The heated rhetoric drew a fiery and mocking response from BJP leader and actor Mithun Chakraborty. Ridiculing Bhutto’s war talk, Chakraborty threatened metaphorically that “one after another BrahMos” missiles could be launched if Pakistan provoked India. In a satirical twist, he said India could “build a dam where 140 crore people will pee” and then unleash it as a “tsunami,” clarifying his remarks were aimed specifically at Bhutto and not the people of Pakistan.
The war of words comes amid already strained post-conflict relations following recent hostilities between the two countries. India’s reported moves to review or suspend the Indus Waters Treaty — a 1960 World Bank-brokered agreement governing the sharing of the Indus River system — have become a flashpoint. The IWT has long been considered one of the few functioning accords between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, but its future is now in doubt.
The combination of Bhutto’s call to arms, Munir’s nuclear threats from US soil, and New Delhi’s defiant political counterpunch has deepened the crisis. Analysts warn that turning the water dispute into a platform for military brinkmanship risks pushing both sides into a dangerous escalation spiral — one with regional and global repercussions given the nuclear dimension of the standoff.
