New Delhi: India on Monday said that it will not give in to ‘nuclear blackmail’ after Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir reportedly suggested that his country could use nuclear weapons if faced with an existential threat from New Delhi.

During a visit to the United States, Munir told members of the Pakistani-American community in Tampa, Florida, “We are a nuclear nation, if we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us.” He also said that Islamabad would defend its water rights “at all costs” if India proceeded with constructing a dam on the Indus River.

On April 23, a day after the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 persons were killed, India suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty on water sharing, citing Islamabad’s support for “sustained cross-border terrorism”.

At the Tampa event, Munir reportedly said, “We will wait for India to build a dam and when they do so, we will destroy it.”

Responding to Munir’s comments, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India would “continue to take all steps necessary to safeguard our national security”. The Foreign ministry added: “Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan’s stock-in-trade.”