ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani foreign office on Friday criticized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks in which he warned of economic and military consequences for Pakistan, saying his statement violated “the norms of responsible statecraft.”

Modi said Pakistan will not get water from rivers over which India has rights, and that Pakistan’s army and economy will have to “pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack,” upping the rhetoric in a standoff over water access.

India last month said it was suspending the Indus Waters Treaty in a slew of measures after the killing of 26 people in an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, a charge Pakistan dismisses.

In its response to Modi’s comments at an event in Rajasthan, the Pakistani foreign office said such statements not only reflect a “deliberate attempt to mislead the public but also violate the norms of responsible statecraft.”

“Resorting to threats and boasting about military action against a sovereign nation is a grave breach of the United Nations Charter and established principles of international law,” it said.

“This dangerous approach undermines regional peace and stability.”

Any move to stop Pakistan accessing the water would have a devastating impact. The Indus treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, guarantees water for 80 percent of Pakistan’s farms from three rivers that flow from India. The nuclear-armed neighbors have already clashed in their worst military fighting in nearly three decades before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10.

Islamabad maintains the treaty is legally binding and no party can unilaterally suspend it, with its Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan saying that Pakistan is willing to talk about or to address any concerns India may have.

The foreign office said Pakistan remains a consistent and proactive partner in the global fight against militancy and any insinuation seeking to associate Pakistan with “acts of terrorism is factually incorrect and patently misleading.”

“It is a tactic often employed to divert attention from India’s own internal challenges, particularly its repressive policies [in Kashmir],” it said on Friday.

India and Pakistan share a troubled relationship since they got independence from British rule in 1947, and have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.

India accuses Pakistan of backing armed separatists in Kashmir. Pakistan denies this and says it only offers diplomatic and political support to Kashmiris.

Pakistan’s prime minister and military have also accused “Indian terror proxies” of involvement in a suicide bomb blast on an army school bus in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province that killed five people, including three children, on Wednesday. India rejected the allegation.

Both nations have retaliated since the April attack by halting trade, closing borders and suspending most visas.

The Pakistani foreign office urged the Indian leadership to exercise restraint, saying such escalatory statements only exacerbate tensions.

“India should demonstrate maturity by resolving outstanding disputes through peaceful dialogue and diplomacy,” it said.

“Pakistan remains firmly committed to peaceful coexistence, regional stability, and constructive engagement. However, our desire for peace should not be misconstrued as weakness... Any misadventure or aggression will be met with a resolute and proportionate response. Pakistan has demonstrated its resolve in the past and will do so again, if required.”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will raise the recent militant attack on a school bus in the southwestern Balochistan province at the United Nations (UN) and present evidence of Indian involvement to the international community, said the country’s top diplomat at the UN on Thursday.

At least six people, including four children, were killed on Wednesday when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device targeted a school bus en route to an army-run school in the Khuzdar district.

Balochistan has witnessed a separatist insurgency for decades, though it has intensified more recently, with groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) carrying out high-casualty attacks on civilians and security forces.

Pakistan says such militant outfits are backed by India, though New Delhi denies the claim. The Indian administration also distanced itself from the Khuzdar school bus bombing, attributing such acts of violence to Pakistan’s “internal failures.”

“This was a heinous terrorist act directed against children, against students, [which is] totally unacceptable and condemnable,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told Arab News in an interview.

“Pakistan is going to share the evidence [of Indian involvement] with the members of the international community, including in the UN,” he continued.

Ahmad said Pakistan had also provided evidence of India’s involvement in “terrorist activities” in the past, adding it was going to do it again.

He maintained New Delhi had been committing “terrorism” in Pakistan both directly and through its proxies.

He informed Pakistan would present a dossier to the UN and its member states to highlight a clear pattern of Indian involvement in militant violence aimed at destabilizing Pakistan, particularly Balochistan.

“The dossier will contain information about who is involved [and] what are the linkages,” he added.

The envoy said Pakistan had, in the past, proposed the listing of Indian nationals involved in orchestrating violent activities in Pakistan.

“Some of the members of the Security Council … did not act responsibly and in fact they block such listings,” he informed, adding it was the collective responsibility of all UN members to assess the situation objectively and not protect India unnecessarily.

Asked about India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), the ambassador said Pakistan had already raised the issue at the Security Council, as the move was highly escalatory and posed an existential threat to the country.

“We discussed this … during the meeting of the Security Council that was held on 5th of May, where a number of members of the Security Council expressed concern because it is clearly viewed by the international community as a violation of international law,” he said.