‘If hit by US, Pak will attack India’: Ex-envoy’s shocking ‘hypothetical’ plan
Abdul Basit’s comments on hypothetical retaliation referencing Indian cities surface amid heightened tensions in region and the escalating US-Israel-Iran war
Former Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit, in a television interview, has claimed that Pakistan would have "no choice but to target India" if the US attacks them.
Speaking during the interview, the former envoy said, “...hypothetically, if the US attacks Pakistan, then without a second thought, we will attack India, Mumbai, New Delhi.”
Startling remark
He argued that if Pakistan's missiles cannot reach distant aggressors like the US, the "default" retaliatory option would be to strike India. Although described as a “worst-case scenario,” the remark quickly drew notice for explicitly mentioning strikes on major Indian cities.
The shocking remark comes even as tensions remain high amid the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict. Basit repeatedly described the situation as unlikely, even calling it “out of the impossibility”, but returned to the same line of argument.
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“If someone sees us with a bad eye, Pakistan will have no other option than to attack India wherever it wants,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen. India doesn’t want that either.”
While there has been no official response from India on the remarks by the former diplomat, the comment has already sparked discussion across platforms.
Who is Abdul Basit?
Abdul Basit served as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India from 2014 to 2017. His tenure in India was marked by complex relations, which he later described as marked by deep-seated “hostility” — a phrase he used as the title of his 2021 memoir.
His term began on a contentious note in August 2014, when India called off foreign secretary-level talks after he met Kashmiri separatist leaders from the Hurriyat Conference despite being advised against it by the Indian government.
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Basit considered the 2015 Heart of Asia Conference, where both countries agreed to a comprehensive dialogue, a high point, though the process collapsed after the 2016 Pathankot terror attack.
In his book, he later said he was “not willing to pander” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and criticised his own government for allegedly doing so.
He has also served as Pakistan's Ambassador to Germany (2012–2014) and held diplomatic posts in Moscow, New York, Geneva, and London.
Regional tensions
Pakistan and Afghanistan are currently engaged in a weeks-long conflict that was briefly paused on March 18, 2026, for a five-day Eid al-Fitr ceasefire. Just days earlier, on March 16–17, Pakistani airstrikes hit targets in Kabul and Nangarhar, which Islamabad described as militant hideouts.
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The Taliban government, however, claimed the strikes struck a drug rehabilitation centre, killing more than 400 people in one of the deadliest incidents in recent years. Before the ceasefire, Pakistan’s Defence Minister had termed the situation an “open war” following Afghan attacks on Pakistani border bases in February.
As the region navigates heightened tensions, Basit’s remarks add another layer of unease to an already volatile geopolitical landscape. While framed as hypothetical, such statements underscore the fragility of regional stability and the risks of escalation, particularly at a time when multiple conflicts are unfolding simultaneously.