Likening the treatment meted out to jailed Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav's family in Pakistan to "Draupadi's vastraharan", Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy called for the Indian government to begin "serious homework" for a war.

The time has come to "wage war against Pakistan [and] to tear it apart into four pieces", the Bharatiya Janata Party MP was quoted saying in Mumbai last evening by news agency PTI. "I don't say that we should do this (declare war) immediately, but we should start doing serious homework for this right now."

"It's my personal opinion," Swamy, a member of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on External Affairs, also said as an apparent corollary before saying "it [the personal opinion] often becomes party's opinion also."

Swamy reiterated his submission that Pakistan needs to be torn "into four pieces" when asked about Monday's cross-Line of Control raids carried out by the Indian Army.

The raid was "okay, but for a permanent solution, Pakistan needs to be split," Swamy said, adding that Pakistan is an "envious and vengeful" country and that other nations were likely not to join a conflict in case of an India-Pakistan war.

Swamy's comments came hours after the Ministry of External Affairs in a particularly sharp statement accused Islamabad of creating an "intimidating" atmosphere when Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife and mother went to Pakistan to meet the Indian national.

Jadhav is languishing on death row in Pakistan after being convicted of spying and fomenting terrorism by a military court there. He was allowed to meet his wife and mother on Christmas this year, but the meeting took place in hostile conditions, the MEA said.

Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife and mother meet him in Pakistan

Jadhav's wife Chetankul was made to take off her mangalsutra and even had her footwear taken away, the ministry said. The shoes were never returned while both Chetankul and Avanti, Jadhav's mother, were made to change clothes before meeting Jadhav across a glass screen.

Islamabad, in a late-night statement, rejected the allegations, saying Avanti had "publicly thanked Pakistan for the humanitarian gesture," and this "was recorded by the media." "Nothing more needs to be said," it added.

Swamy, in his comments yesterday, said the treatment "given to the mother and wife of Kulbhushan is akin to Draupadi's vastraharan that resulted in Mahabharat."

This is not the first time the MP, who is known to speak his mind, has called for a war with Pakistan. In October last year, shortly after Indian security forces thwarted an attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla, Swamy had said there seemed to be no other way to deal with Pakistan other than "war".

"There seems to be no other way than a war. Pakistan is mistaking our silence. They need to be taught a lesson," he had said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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