RAWALPINDI, JUL 7 /DNA/ – Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir has dismissed India’s claim of Chinese assistance to Pakistan during the recent armed conflict between Islamabad and New Delhi as a “shoddy attempt at playing camp politics”.
“Naming other states as participants in the purely bilateral military conflagration is also a shoddy attempt at playing camp politics and desperately trying that India remains the beneficiary of larger geopolitical contestation as the so-called net security provider in a region,” COAS Munir said while addressing the graduating officers of the National Security and War Course at the National Defence University (NDU).
The army chief’s remark refers to claims made by the deputy chief of India’s army, who said that Beijing gave Islamabad “live inputs” on key Indian positions during the deadly conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbours in May.
India fought two adversaries during the conflict, with Pakistan being the “front face” while China provided “all possible support”, Lieutenant General Rahul Singh claimed at a defence industry event in New Delhi.
“When the DGMO (director general of military operations) level talks were going on, Pakistan … said that we know that your such and such important vector is primed and it is ready for action […] he was getting live inputs from China,” he claimed.
Regarding the possibility of China providing satellite imagery or other real-time intelligence, India’s chief of defence staff had said such imagery was commercially available and could have been procured from China or elsewhere.
Pakistani officials have previously dismissed allegations of receiving active support from China in the conflict.
His statement referred to the conflict that saw both countries using missiles, drones, and artillery fire during the four-day fighting —their worst in decades — triggered by an attack in April on Hindu tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, before agreeing to a ceasefire. Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack.
Meanwhile in his address today, the field marshal noted that India’s inability to achieve its stated military objectives during Operation Sindoor — and the subsequent attempt to rationalize this shortfall through convoluted logic — speaks volumes about its lack of operational readiness and strategic foresight”.
“Insinuations regarding external support in Pakistan’s successful Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos are irresponsible and factually incorrect and reflect a chronic reluctance to acknowledge indigenous capability and institutional resilience developed over decades of strategic prudence,” he added.
Highlighting India’s strategic behaviour resting on parochial self-alignment, the COAS stressed that Pakistan has forged lasting partnerships based on principled diplomacy, anchored in mutual respect and peace, establishing itself to be a stabilizer in the region.
He also retierated Islamabad’s “principled stance that any misadventure or attempts to undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty or violation of territorial integrity will continue to be reflexively met with a swift, and resolute response without any constraints or inhibitions”.
“Any attempt to target our population centres, military bases, economic hubs and ports will instantly invoke a ‘deeply hurting and more than reciprocal response,’ the army chief warned, adding: “The onus of escalation will squarely lie on the strategically blind arrogant aggressor who fails to see the grave repercussions of such provocative actions against a sovereign nuclear state”.
The army chief further remarked that wars are not won through media rhetoric, imported fancy hardware, or political sloganeering, but through faith, professional competence, operational clarity, institutional strength and national resolve.
Furthermore, highlighting the evolving character of warfare, he underscored the centrality of mental preparedness, operational clarity, and institutional professionalism in navigating complex strategic issues and lauded lauded the role of premier institutions like NDU in enhancing civil-military synergy and nurturing future leadership capable of mitigating hybrid, conventional, and sub-conventional threats with poise and resolve.
Urging the graduating officers to remain steadfast in the values of integrity, selfless service, and unwavering commitment to the nation, Field Marshal Munir expressed full confidence in the professionalism, morale, and readiness of the country’s battle hardened armed forces.
