Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has pledged to defend the country’s water rights at all costs, even if the forces have to destroy any controversial dam that India seeks to build on the Indus waters.

 

“We will wait for India to build a dam, and when they do so, we will destroy it,” the army chief reportedly told members of the Pakistani-American community present at a black-tie dinner hosted by Adnan Asad, Pakistan’s honorary consul in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday.

 

“The Indus River is not the Indians’ family property. We have no shortage of resources to undo the Indian designs to stop the river,” he added.

 

The COAS said that India projected itself as a “Vishwa Guru [global teacher]” while its intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was involved in transnational terrorism, citing incidents in Canada, Qatar, and the arrest of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. Jadhav was apprehended red-handed by law enforcement agencies in 2016 while infiltrating Pakistan from the Saravan border area of Balochistan with Iran.

 

Condemning India’s “unprovoked aggression” across the Line of Control (LoC) during the four-day conflict in May, he mocked New Delhi’s reluctance to admit battlefield losses. He thanked US President Trump for his “strategic leadership” in preventing an India-Pakistan war and other global conflicts.

 

The field marshal said that Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) was “not India’s internal matter but an unfinished international agenda”, vowing support for UN resolutions.

 

Around 150 guests, including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Ambassador Rizwan Shaikh, embassy officials, and prominent members of the diaspora, were present at the event.

 

In Tampa, the army chief also attended the US Central Command (Centcom) change-of-command ceremony. According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Sunday, the field marshal’s engagements included the retirement ceremony of General Michael E. Kurilla, Commander of Centcom, and the Change of Command in which Admiral Brad Cooper assumed charge.

 

The ISPR said FM Munir praised Gen Kurilla’s “exemplary leadership and invaluable contributions in strengthening Pakistan-US military relations” and expressed confidence that Admiral Cooper “would take this partnership forward to address shared security challenges”.

 

Munir’s trip came six weeks after his unprecedented lunch with the US president at the White House, a privilege usually reserved for heads of state or government. Following the meeting, Trump praised Munir, saying he was “honored ” to meet the general.