No space for
war between
N. neighbours
ISPR says any hostile design against Pakistan will be countered with “greater strength, resolve”
Ansar M Bhatti/DNA
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military said there was “no space for war” between two nuclear neighbours as the country marked the first anniversary of Marka-e-Haq, while reaffirming its commitment to peace, regional stability and national defence.
The remarks were made by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry as he addressed a press conference along with Rear Admiral Shifaat Ali Khan and Air Vice Marshal Tariq Ghazi.
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The more than 80-hour war eventually stopped on May 10 after intervention from the United States, which saw multiple Indian jets and drones being downed, and bolstering Pakistan’s image as a “net security stabiliser”.
“We welcome you to ISPR on this happy day,” Lt Gen Chaudhry said at the outset of the press conference.
He noted that Pakistan’s military had defeated an enemy “five times larger than itself,” and further described India as a “terrorist state”.
“Today, we are not going to dwell a lot on what happened … We are going to spend more time from May 2025 to May 2026,” he said, adding that they would put in front of the nation “10 strategic consequences” of the conflict.
First of the strategic consequences is, the ISPR DG said, the Indian narrative of painting Pakistan as a source of terrorism stood buried forever.
“International community, as a consequence of Marka-e-Haq, came to know and now fully understand that Pakistan as alleged by Indians over period of time is not a perpetrator but victim of Indian sponsored terrorism,” he noted.
Chaudhry noted that India attempted to portray, without evidence, that Pakistan had perpetrated terrorism in India. “It had been one year since the Pahalgam incident, yet the questions that Pakistan had asked remain unanswered,” he said.
“How come an FIR was registered within 15 minutes of the incident… Where is the evidence? The whole world, including sensible Indians, is asking who is behind the attack. Nobody buys this… You are the biggest terrorist. Nobody listens to them, nobody believes them,” he added.
Moving on the second consequence, he said that Marka-e-Haq consolidate Pakistan as the net security stabiliser in the region “as per the vision of founding father and the vision was “peace within and without”.
He said that Marka-e-Haq showed who was controlling and dominating the escalation, adding that India escalated the conflict based on a “lie and fabricated drama” and how maturely Pakistan and its armed forces handled that. “The biggest ambassador of stability in the region was Pakistan and its leadership,” he added.
Referring to the third strategic consequence, Lt Gen Chaudhry said it was related to “our eastern neighbour,”, saying it was the “politicisation of Indian military leadership and militarisation of Indian political leadership.”
“You heard their air chief marshal a few months after Marka-e-Haq saying ‘I got to know today that even we downed some planes’ […] That is politicisation of the military leadership … Why are you trying to make jokers out of your admirals, and generals and marshals? Don’t do that.”
On the other hand, he said: “We have placed the facts as they are.”
Furthermore, he criticised the Indian politicians for appearing like “war mongers” and giving statements based on hatred. The DG ISPR noted that the politicisation of the military and militarisation of politics was “dangerous”.
Meanwhile, Chaudhry said that the fourth strategic consequence was the global acknowledgement of Indian efforts to externalise its internal problems and internalise its external problems while using terrorism as a “state tool”.
He pointed out that India’s internal problems included the repression of minorities and Kashmiris. “This comes from a false sense of entitlement and this hubristic attitude.”
“You do not want to resolve your internal problems, and you externalise them by levelling allegations that Pakistan was behind terrorism in the neighbouring country… You need to address them politically and internally,” he added.
He pointed out that Kashmir is not India’s internal problem, but an internationally recognised dispute. “It’s not your internal problem for you to make demographic changes there … you cannot do that.”
He further said that “they [Indians] were even behind terrorism in their own country and would then accuse others”. However, he said, Marka-e-Haq changed the world recognised how they operated.
Moving on to the fifth strategic consequence, the ISPR DG said, Marka-e-Haq exposed the “true face of the Indian media and its discredited information operations”.
He criticised the Indian authorities for “shutting down Pakistani media and social media” during Marka-e-Haq and this practice was still ongoing. “It cannot solve the problem… there is only one advice to India that is to speak the truth.”
“That’s what Pakistan did… The only thing that can survive in today’s information domain in truth. Tell people the truth. But somehow the Indians think they can work their [way] around lies. It doesn’t work anymore,” he added.
Chaudhry said that the sixth consequence was the “transformed character of warfare”, noting that this covered multi-domain operations, non-contact warfare, synergy, proxies and information.
