Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 14: India on Thursday issued a stern warning to Pakistan, urging its leadership to curb its "hateful" and "reckless" rhetoric against New Delhi, and cautioning that any provocative misadventure would lead to “painful consequences.”

The sharp response follows recent inflammatory remarks by Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir — including veiled nuclear threats — and statements by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

“We have seen reports regarding a continuing pattern of reckless, war-mongering and hateful comments from Pakistani leadership against India,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

He accused Pakistan’s top leadership of routinely stirring anti-India sentiment to deflect attention from internal governance failures.

“It is a well-known modus operandi of the Pakistani leadership to whip up anti-India rhetoric time and again to hide their own failures,” Jaiswal said, adding that Pakistan would be "well-advised to temper its rhetoric."

“Any misadventure will have painful consequences — as was demonstrated recently,” he warned, without elaborating on the specific incident, though the statement appears to reference previous cross-border military responses by India.