Pakistan Army spokesman echoes terrorist Hafiz Saeed in fresh threat to India over Indus waters
Pakistan's Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry resembles the hostile rhetoric used by Hafiz Saeed, saying, “If you block our water, we’ll choke your breath.”
Pakistani military spokesperson lieutenant general Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry issued a threat to India using language strikingly similar to that of terrorist Hafiz Saeed. He was speaking at a public gathering over India’s abeyance of the Indus Waters Treaty.
Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry reportedly made the comments during a speech at a university in Pakistan. Referring to India’s recent move to suspend the water-sharing treaty following a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, he said, “If you block our water, we will choke your breath.”
His statement mirrors the hostile rhetoric used by Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, known for his inflammatory speeches against India and the United States. In a video, making rounds on social media ‘X’, Hafiz Saeed can be heard saying those same words.
The statements come as India suspended parts of the Indus Waters Treaty on April 23, a day after the terror attack in Pahalgam killed 26 people. The treaty, signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Bank, governs the sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries between the two countries. It also requires both sides to share regular information on water use.
Meanwhile, New Delhi has repeatedly said “blood and water cannot flow together; talk and terror cannot go together”, signalling a tougher stance on Pakistan’s alleged support for cross-border terrorism.
Suspension was a part of countermeasures taken against Islamabad, including “Operation Sindoor” on May 7 that targeted nine terror hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir.
