Pakistan once again criticises Rajnath Singh’s remarks on Sindh province

Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday once again criticised Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks about its Sindh province becoming a part of India, saying his comments were “deeply troubling”.

Addressing an event hosted by the Sindhi community in New Delhi on Sunday, Rajnath Singh said that “borders can change” and “tomorrow Sindh may return to India“.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said the statement of the Indian defence minister was “deeply troubling”.

“India should refrain from issuing such provocative statements” he said at the weekly media briefing here.

Replying to a question about India not sharing the data in connection with the Indus Water Treaty, Andrabi said the Indian action was a matter of grave concern and a violation of the treaty.

To another question, the spokesperson said that the ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan was not a traditional ceasefire agreed after a conflict between them.

“Pakistan-Afghanistan ceasefire implied that there would be no terrorist attack by the Afghan-sponsored terrorist proxies into Pakistan,” he said.

Andrabi said there have been major terrorist attacks after this ceasefire, adding that in that sense, the ceasefire is not holding because the ceasefire was about ceasing terrorist attacks inside Pakistan by TTP and Afghan nationals using Afghan soil.

“If Afghan nationals are attacking, as they did so in Islamabad and elsewhere, Pakistan cannot be very optimistic about a ceasefire, which in any case is not the traditional ceasefire between the two states,” he said.

He also said that Pakistan’s “military preparedness is robust” and any security challenge would be addressed with the seriousness that it merits.