Pakistan Army slams India’s ‘Bollywood-style’ war rhetoric

The Pakistan Army on Wednesday accused India of escalating its rhetoric amid ongoing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, five months after its latest military confrontation with New Delhi.

“It has been noted with grave concern that five months after Maarka-e-Haq, in the run-up to elections in Bihar and West Bengal, Indian military leadership has started parroting the same delusional, fabricated and provocative propaganda that they regurgitate before every state election in India,” the Pakistani military said in a statement.

Elections for the Bihar assembly are set to take place in November.

Army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said it was “saddening to see the military leadership of a nuclear-armed country issuing irresponsible statements under immense political pressure.”

“The lies being fed to the Indian public and the international audience have turned the Indian military machine into a laughing stock,” he said, warning that “unnecessary chest-thumping and unwarranted statements might initiate a cycle of jingoism and lead to serious consequences for peace and stability in South Asia.”

“The contradictions in the Indian Army’s press briefing are so evident that they should not be dignified with a response,” Chaudhry added. “Evidently, the Indian leadership is attempting to mold history to its liking by inventing outlandish, Bollywood-style scripts.”

The Pakistan Army further said that “the Indian military and political leadership appear unable to reconcile with the idea that they were decisively beaten in May.”

Earlier this week, India’s Director General of Military Operations Lt. Gen. Rajiv Ghai, accused Pakistan of deploying drones even after hotline contact between the two sides to halt the conflict. Ghai also claimed that India had targeted multiple Pakistani air bases and military assets — assertions that Pakistan and several international observers have dismissed.