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Retired Indian army lieutenant BS Jaswal, former commander of Northern Command, said India would reduce nuclear giants China and Pakistan into crumbling ruins if it is faced with a "two-front war".

The devastating conflict would destroy all of Pakistan and throw it back to the "Stone Age", he said.

And China's massive economic strides would take a massive hit and isolate Beijing from the world, he added confidently.

(Image: Getty)

Speaking to Daily Star Online, Mr Jaswal said India is ready to take on its mighty neighbours simultaneously but both enemy countries would likely face a devastating fallout.

He said: "India's policy is no first use [nuclear weapons] but massive retaliation.

"We can face a two-front war. And if we retaliate, Pakistan will be thrown back to the Stone Age. We will destroy all of Pakistan."

He added: "And for China to wage a war would mean risking international isolation and facing massive setbacks to its economic ambitions."

Fears of war were raised over a new moot point – the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor – plummeting existing tensions between India and its neighbours to a new low.

The new trade route is being built between fast friends Pakistan and China at a cost of £33bn in the northern Gilgit Baltistan; a territory India claims as its own.

The news comes as China's president Xi Jinping flexes his military muscles in the area of Doklam, and heavy artillery is exchanged with Pakistan across the contentious Line of Control in Kashmir.

Tensions remain equally strained in the Indian Ocean.

India is building a massive military facility in Seychelles, north of Madagascar, in a major attempt to counter arch-enemy China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean.

Last year, Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat expressed his deep concern for a war on two fronts with China and Pakistan.

He stated China had started to “flex its muscles” and had begun “taking over territory in a very gradual manner”.

He said: “In sum, China and Pakistan are one entity threatening India on multiple fronts.”

The former lieutenant discussed China’s “adept” skill for taking territory without resorting to “direct conflict”.

He added: “China is adept at nibbling territory, and going by the experience of the Doklam crisis, it never seeks direct conflict.

“It calls an area 'disputed,' and then occupies it by proclaiming it as Chinese territory.

Lieutenant general from the Indian Army’s Special ForcesPrakash Katoch said earlier that Pakistan’s “foreign and defence policies” could be influenced by China following reports Xi Jinping could be planning to add to the tension in the region of Jammu and Kashmir.

He went on: “20 rounds of talks on the India-China boundary have yielded little and there is a need to address questions of an escalation by Pakistan at China’s behest.

“This also raises questions about whether Pakistan’s foreign and defence policies are influenced by China.

“Has Pakistan become a de facto Chinese province with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Belt and Road Initiative?

“Dispassionate analyses would conclude that this is a real possibility."