New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir's nuclear threat from the US soil showed that the neighbouring country is an "irresponsible" nuclear state and there is a danger of the weapons falling into the hands of non-state actors, government sources said on Monday.
In an address to the Pakistani diaspora in Florida's Tampa, Munir reportedly made the nuclear threat in case his country faced an existential threat in a future war with India.
The Pakistani Army Chief also warned that Islamabad would destroy Indian infrastructure, if they hit water flow to Pakistan.
"We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we'll take half the world down with us," media reports quoted him as saying.
The Pakistan Army Chief's comments are part of a pattern in Pakistan as whenever the US supports the Pakistan military, they always show their true colours of aggression, the sources said.
It is a symptom that democracy does not exist in Pakistan and it is their military which controls the country, they said.
"Emboldened by reception and welcome by the US, the next step could possibly be a silent or open coup in Pakistan so that the Field Marshal becomes the President," said a source.
Munir is currently on a visit to the US, his second in two months.
His comments are reflective of Pakistan's record of nuclear sabre rattling from time to time while trying to pass itself off as a responsible nuclear actor, the sources said.
The remarks also demonstrated that the real nuclear instability in South Asia comes from a military that has its hand on the nuclear button rather than a civilian authority, they added.
"Will the US hold Pakistan accountable for such irresponsible and provocative comments from its soil, as President Donald Trump has time and again spoken about containing nuclear conflict?" asked the source cited above.
In his address, Munir also repeated his earlier remarks that Kashmir is the "jugular vein" of Pakistan.
Weeks before the Pahalgam attack, the Army Chief said Pakistan will not forget the issue of Kashmir, asserting, "It was our jugular vein." His comments were trashed by India.
"Before the Pahalgam attack, Munir had given a statement that Hindus and Muslims cannot stay together. This was followed by the Pahalgaam terror attack in which people were asked for their religion and killed at point blank range," said the source.
"This statement is a signal that more terrorist attacks would be undertaken and cover would be the Pakistan missile and nuclear capabilities," it added.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)