India, Oct. 8 -- Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has stirred controversy with a new statement claiming that India "was never truly united" except during the rule of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

In an interview with Pakistan's Samaa TV, Asif also said that "chances of war with India are real," remarks that come amid renewed tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Historians, however, note that India's political unity predates the Mughal period by centuries. The Maurya Empire (322-185 BCE), under Emperor Ashoka, unified most of the Indian subcontinent into one state.

Later rulers such as Samudragupta of the Gupta dynasty and Harshavardhana also brought large regions under central rule.

Even within the Mughal era, Empero...