In a closed-door gathering in Tampa, Florida, Pakistan&rsquo;s powerful Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, delivered a rare and unusually provocative address that has sent ripples across South Asia&rsquo;s strategic circles. Speaking before around 120 members of the Pakistani diaspora at a black-tie dinner, Munir reportedly sketched out an aggressive vision for any future confrontation with India &mdash; one that places economic and water infrastructure firmly in the crosshairs.
According to multiple attendees, Munir singled out India&rsquo;s most valuable corporate asset &mdash; Mukesh Ambani&rsquo;s Reliance Industries refinery in Jamnagar, Gujarat &mdash; the world&rsquo;s largest refining hub. He boasted of personally authorising an earlier social media warning against Ambani during recent tensions, describing it as a foretaste of Pakistan&rsquo;s next move.
The general&rsquo;s rhetoric went beyond economic threats. He issued a stark challenge over the fragile Indus Waters Treaty, which governs the sharing of river resources between the two nations. In a chilling aside, he vowed to &ldquo;wait for India to build a dam&rdquo; before unleashing &ldquo;ten missiles&rdquo; to obliterate it.
The Tampa event &mdash; hosted by Pakistan&rsquo;s honorary consul and stripped of all phones and recording devices &mdash; was timed to coincide with Munir&rsquo;s presence in the US for the retirement of US CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla. While publicly engaged in military diplomacy, Munir&rsquo;s private remarks suggested a hardening of Pakistan&rsquo;s strategic posture, blending nationalism, diaspora outreach, and veiled military threats.
Striking a populist chord, he urged overseas Pakistanis to invest, invoked emotional parallels between &ldquo;mother&rdquo; and &ldquo;motherland,&rdquo; and hailed Pakistan&rsquo;s &ldquo;divinely blessed&rdquo; resource base. In an unexpected aside, he even pointed to Donald Trump&rsquo;s Nobel Prize nomination as an example of rewarding those who &ldquo;do good,&rdquo; hinting at Islamabad&rsquo;s own diplomatic balancing act.
If Munir&rsquo;s words reflect Pakistan&rsquo;s evolving war doctrine, they signal a shift from purely military targets to strategic economic and environmental vulnerabilities &mdash; a development that could sharply raise the stakes in any future India&ndash;Pakistan crisis.

At a private US dinner, Asim Munir hinted at striking India’s economy and water lifelines

Pakistan’s Chief Targets India’s Heart

At a private US dinner, Asim Munir hinted at striking India’s economy and water lifelines

August 12, 2025 | 20:21 IST