‘Kashmir Our Jugular Vein’: Pakistan Army Chief Reiterates Remark He Made Before Pahalgam Attack, This Time In US

<p>Pakistan&rsquo;s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir has repeated his assertion that Kashmir is Pakistan&rsquo;s &ldquo;jugular vein&rdquo;, warning that Islamabad will defend its water rights &ldquo;at all costs&rdquo;. His latest remarks came while addressing the Pakistani diaspora in Tampa, Florida, during his ongoing official visit to the United States.</p>
<p>Weeks before the Pahalgam terror attack, Munir had publicly declared that &ldquo;Pakistan will not forget the issue of Kashmir&rdquo;, calling it &ldquo;our jugular vein&rdquo;. Those earlier comments were strongly criticised by New Delhi. &ldquo;How can anything foreign be in a jugular vein? This is a Union Territory of India. Its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country,&rdquo; Ministry Of External Affairs had stated.</p>
<h3><strong>Kashmir Is &lsquo;Not Internal Matter Of India But Incomplete International Agenda&rsquo;: Asim Munir</strong></h3>
<p><span style=”font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, ‘Open Sans’, ‘Helvetica Neue’, sans-serif;”>&nbsp;Speaking in Florida on Saturday, Munir claimed that Pakistan &ldquo;responded resolutely and forcefully&rdquo; during the recent conflict with India, adding that &ldquo;any Indian aggression will be met with a befitting reply&rdquo;, Pakistan-based publication Dawn reported.</span></p>
<p>He reiterated Pakistan&rsquo;s stance that Kashmir is &ldquo;not an internal matter of India but an incomplete international agenda&rdquo;, and cited Muhammad Ali Jinnah&rsquo;s words:&nbsp;&ldquo;As the Quaid-e-Azam had said, Kashmir is the &lsquo;jugular vein&rsquo; of Pakistan.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the water dispute, he warned:&nbsp;&ldquo;We will wait for India to build a dam, and when they do so, we will destroy it. The Indus River is not the Indians&rsquo; family property. We have no shortage of resources to undo the Indian designs to stop the river.&rdquo;</p>
<h3><strong>Asim Munir’s&nbsp;Praise for Trump, Talks on Bilateral Ties</strong></h3>
<p>Munir described this as his second US trip in a span of six weeks, calling it a &ldquo;new dimension&rdquo; in Pakistan-US relations aimed at placing ties on a &ldquo;constructive, sustainable and positive path&rdquo;.</p>
<p>He expressed gratitude to US President Donald Trump, saying his &ldquo;strategic leadership&rdquo; had &ldquo;stopped the war between India and Pakistan&rdquo; and prevented &ldquo;many other wars around the world&rdquo;. New Delhi maintains that both countries ceased military actions after direct talks between their armed forces, without US mediation.</p>
<p>In June, Munir had undertaken a rare five-day US visit, during which he attended a private luncheon with Trump&mdash;an event usually reserved for visiting heads of state. That meeting led to Trump announcing increased US-Pakistan cooperation, including an oil deal.</p>
<h3><strong>High-Level Engagements and Diaspora Outreach</strong></h3>
<p>According to the Pakistani army, Munir attended the Retirement Ceremony of outgoing US CENTCOM Commander General Michael E Kurilla in Tampa, as well as the Change of Command Ceremony marking Admiral Brad Cooper&rsquo;s appointment, news agency PTI reported.</p>
<p>He also met Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, inviting him to visit Pakistan, and interacted with defence chiefs from &ldquo;friendly nations&rdquo;.</p>
<p>During a session with the Pakistani community, Munir urged them to &ldquo;remain confident in Pakistan&rsquo;s bright future&rdquo; and &ldquo;actively contribute to attracting investments&rdquo;. The diaspora, the statement said, pledged their support for the country&rsquo;s progress and development.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the MEA on Monday strongly criticised Asim Munir over his reported remarks threatening nuclear retaliation against India. Calling nuclear sabre-rattling Pakistan&rsquo;s &ldquo;stock-in-trade&rdquo;, the MEA said such statements underscore concerns over Islamabad&rsquo;s nuclear command and control being in the hands of a military &ldquo;hand-in-glove with terrorist groups&rdquo;.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our attention has been drawn to remarks reportedly made by the Pakistani Chief of Army Staff while on a visit to the United States. Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan&rsquo;s stock-in-trade. The international community can draw its own conclusions on the irresponsibility inherent in such remarks, which also reinforce the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in a state where the military is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups,&rdquo; the MEA stated.</p>
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