Under Taliban fire, panicked Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir renews anti-India threats, warns of ‘decisive, beyond proportions’ response

"There is no space for war in a nuclearised environment," Munir said while delivering a highly inflammatory speech at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, but immediately twisted the discourse with a warning that even a "minor provocation" would call a "decisive, beyond proportions" reply from Pakistan.

Interestingly, Munir’s speeches re always less about Pakistan’s military prowess and more about anti-India nuclear rhetoric with pretentious claims of power and supremacy over India.

In his address, Munir went on to claim that Islamabad's expanding military abilities could "shatter the misconceived immunity of India's geographical warspace."

"Should a fresh wave of hostilities be triggered, Pakistan would respond much beyond the expectations of the initiators. With diminishing distinction between combat and communication zones, the reach and lethality of our weapon systems will shatter the misconceived immunity of India's geographic vastness," he said.

"The deeply hurting retributive military and economic losses inflicted will be much beyond the imagination and calculations of the perpetrators of chaos and instability."

The Pakistani leader further cautioned that the onus of ensuing escalations, "one that may ultimately bear catastrophic consequences for the entire region and beyond, will squarely lie with India."

Munir’s address indicates fear and exposes Pakistan’s hollow claims in the wake of shameful defeat by Taliban fighters, who said they neutralised "a large number" of Pakistani soldiers in retaliatory fire, and seized Pakistani weapons and tanks.

Taliban’s claims were supported by images and videos of Taliban fighters riding on a seized Pakistani T-55 tank and displaying trousers and weapons of Pakistani soldiers, who allegedly escaped amid Taliban attack on their outposts, have left Pakistan exposed.

The ease with which the unorganised Taliban fighters captured Pakistani outposts and killed several of its soldiers reveals Islamabad’s surveillance and intelligence failures.

Unable to restrict the Taliban fighters on the ground, Pakistan is conducting airstrikes on Afghanistan, killing civilians.

Recent reports suggest Pakistan’s military is facing mounting pressure after a series of deadly Afghan Taliban attacks along the Durand Line.

Earlier, Army Chief Gen Asim Munir had made a provocative statement on Kashmir, calling it Pakistan’s “jugular vein” during an April 16 address at the Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad—days before terrorists killed 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

He said, “Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein... we will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle.”