Countries backing India will be hit by missile: Nuclear war threat by Pakistani minister
Islamabad unilaterally downgraded bilateral ties over India's Article 370 stance
Islamabad: A Pakistan minister has courted controversy by saying that any country that will support India over the Kashmir issue will be hit by a missile by Pakistan and considered as an "enemy" of Islamabad.
"If tensions with India rises on Kashmir, Pakistan will be compelled to go to war. Hence, those countries backing India and not Pakistan (over Kashmir) will be considered as our enemy and a missile will be fired at India and those nations supporting it," Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan, Ali Amin Gandapur said at an event on Tuesday.
Pakistan-based journalist Naila Inayat tweeted a part of the video in which the minister is seen making the inflammatory remarks.
Gandapur's rhetorics on Kashmir issue comes at a time when Pakistan and India have ongoing tensions over the Kashmir issue. Islamabad has unilaterally downgraded bilateral ties after it cried foul over New Delhi's move to abrogate Article 370 that granted special powers to citizens in Jammu and Kashmir.
India has maintained that the decision is its internal matter.
In his maiden address at the UN General Assembly in New York in September, Prime Minister Imran Khan had devoted his 50-minute speech on Kashmir. At that time, Khan had spoken about the dire consequences in the event of a nuclear war with India.