Ex-Pakistan envoy: If US attacks us, we should attack Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai

In a provocative statement, Abdul KabulPakistan’s former high commissioner to India said Islamabad’s “default move” should be to attack Indian cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai if India was attacked by the United States.“The United States will not attack Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Even if we believe that in a hypothetical scenario, the United States attacks Pakistan, we cannot fight back because the United States is not within our nuclear range. (Asking the TV anchor) What do you think we will choose? India,” Basit asserted in an interview with a local Pakistani channel. “If anyone casts an evil eye on us, we will attack Mumbai and New Delhi in India without a second thought. We will see what happens in the future,” he told ABN News.The former envoy-turned-defense strategist further said, “Currently, neither the United States nor Israel is within our nuclear range. But the world should know that if we are attacked, we will attack India in turn, wherever we want to attack.” Bast made the controversial remarks in response to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s recent statement before the Senate Intelligence Committee, in which she said Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile program could pose a threat to the US homeland.Some media reports also quoted Bast as saying that Gabbard’s “anti-Pakistan” worldview is a well-known fact. “Pakistan’s deterrence is against India. Tulsi Gabbard saw our missiles but not India’s Agni 5 and Agni 6. They are intercontinental missiles,” he was reported to have said.In delivering her 2026 annual threat assessment to the House Intelligence Committee, Gabbard said Pakistan is among countries “researching and developing a range of new advanced or conventional missile delivery systems with nuclear and conventional payloads that could put our homeland within range.”According to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Pakistan possesses six operational types of nuclear ballistic missiles. Its overall arsenal consists primarily of short- to medium-range ballistic missiles, but it is making significant progress in strengthening its cruise missile capabilities. Its ground arsenal consists of 106 land-based missiles with a yield of 5-40 kt. Pakistan’s road-mobile ballistic missiles include short-range Abdali, Ghaznavi, Shaheen-1 and NASR, and medium-range Shaheen-2 and Ghauri. Shaheen-3 and Ababeel medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM) are currently under development.The Shaheen-3, which has the longest range, can hit targets up to 2,750 kilometers away. But Shaheen-3 is not an intercontinental ballistic missile. For a ballistic missile to be called an intercontinental ballistic missile, its minimum range must exceed 5,500 kilometers. The distance between the United States and Pakistan is over 11,200 kilometers.Reacting strongly to Basit’s statement, BJP national spokesperson Tuhin Sinha said on Sunday, “Abdul Basit’s threat that Delhi and Mumbai will be blown up by Pakistani bombs shows that even today, Pakistan is rattled by the attacks during Operation Sindoor. It has lost its psychological balance. “Shortly after Gabbard’s statement, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said, “Pakistan categorically rejects recent assertions by U.S. officials that Pakistan’s missile capabilities pose a potential threat.” He said that Pakistan’s strategic capabilities are “entirely defensive in nature” and “aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and maintaining peace and stability in South Asia.”