ISPR takes exception after Indian army chief says Pakistan should decide between being 'part of geography' or not

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Sunday took exception to the Indian army chief’s recent provocative remarks and cautioned New Delhi against pushing South Asia towards another conflict with “devastating” consequences for the region. “Indian COAS gave a provocative statement during a recent interview that ‘Pakistan should decide if it desired to be part of geography and history’,” ISPR noted in a statement issued in response to Indian Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi’s comments made a day earlier. “Contrary to the delusional and hallucinational belief system and despite the omnipresent ill wishes that prevail in Hindutva-led India, Pakistan is already a country of consequence at global level, a declared nuclear power and an indelible part of South Asia’s geography and history,” the ISPR said. It observed that the statement reflected that the “Indian leadership has neither been able to reconcile with the very idea of Pakistan nor it has learnt the right lessons, even after [the] passage of eight decades”. “This hubristic, jingoistic and myopic mindset has repeatedly pushed South Asia towards wars and crises,” the military’s media affairs wing highlighted. “Threatening a sovereign nuclear neighbour with elimination from ‘geography’ is not strategic signalling or brinkmanship; it is sheer bankruptcy of cognitive capacities, madness and warmongering despite knowing the reality that such geographic obliteration would certainly be mutual and comprehensive,” the ISPR warned. It stressed that “responsible nuclear states reflect restraint, maturity, and strategic sobriety”, rather than speaking the “language of civilisational supremacy or national erasure”. The ISPR advised the Indian leadership “not to attempt to push South Asia towards another crisis or war whose consequences would only be devastating for the complete region and beyond”. “India needs to reconcile with Pakistan’s salience and learn to peacefully co-exist with it. Otherwise, any attempt to target P