On Independence Day, Modi vows to punish Pakistan for future attacks

NEW DELHI (AP):

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan that India will punish its neighbour if there are future attacks on India as he marked 78 years of independence from British colonial rule.

Modi’s remarks Friday come three months after nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan engaged in four days of intense fighting, their worst clash in decades.

Modi addressed the country from New Delhi’s 17th-century, Mughal-era Red Fort, saying India has established a “new normal” that does not differentiate between “terrorists” and those who support terrorism. He said he would not tolerate what he called Islamabad’s “nuclear blackmail.”

“India has decided that it will not tolerate nuclear threats. For a long time, nuclear blackmail had been going on but this blackmail will not be tolerated now,” Modi said.

There was no immediate response from Pakistan to Modi’s remarks. Pakistan previously has rejected India’s statements about nuclear blackmail as provocative and inflammatory.

However, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday announced the creation of a new “Army Rocket Force Command” to bolster the country’s defence capabilities. Sharif made this announcement during a speech marking Independence Day celebrations, but gave no further details.

India celebrates its Independence Day one day after Pakistan. The two states came into existence as a result of the bloody partition of British India in 1947. The process sparked some of the worst communal violence the world has seen and left hundreds of thousands dead. It triggered one of the largest human migrations in history and some 12 million people fled their homes.

India and Pakistan exchanged tit-for-tat military strikes in May that brought them to the brink of a war. The fighting between the two countries was sparked by an April massacre by gunmen in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. India blamed the attack on Pakistan-backed militants. Islamabad denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation.

Days after the massacre, India launched strikes on Pakistan and said it had hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites.

“Terror infrastructure was turned to rubble,” Modi said in his speech Friday.

Pakistan responded by sending waves of drones into India, as well as missile and artillery bombardments. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached May 10 after U.S. mediation.

During his Friday speech, Modi also hinted India would continue its unilateral suspension of the Indus Water Treaty. The treaty, which India suspended after the April massacre, allows sharing of the Indus River that runs about 2,897 kilometres (1,800 miles) through South Asia and is a lifeline for both countries.

“Rivers from India were irrigating the lands of enemies while my country’s farmers and land faced a deficiency of water,” Modi said. “India has now decided that blood and water will not flow together.”

Pakistan has said any effort by India to stop or divert the water from flowing into Pakistan would be considered an “act of war.”