ISLAMABAD: Pakistan emerged as “the most dependable net security provider” in the region after its four-day military standoff with India in May 2025, an official and experts said on Sunday, as Islamabad marked the first anniversary of the conflict.
The conflict erupted after India blamed Pakistan-backed militants for an April 22, 2025 attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 civilians, most of them tourists. Pakistan denied involvement and called for a credible, international investigation.
Tensions escalated rapidly after India launched cross-border strikes under “Operation Sindoor” on May 7, saying it had targeted militant infrastructure inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Pakistan said civilian areas were hit and responded later with “Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos” that targeted Indian military installations.
The fighting, involving missiles, drones, artillery exchanges and air operations, was the most serious confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades before a US-backed ceasefire was announced on May 10, 2025, with Islamabad claiming victory in the standoff after having shot down multiple Indian fighter aircraft, including the French-made Rafale.
New Delhi acknowledged some losses but did not specify a number.
As Pakistan commemorated what it calls ‘Marka-e-Haq,’ or the Battle of the Truth, on Sunday, Mosharraf Zaidi, the prime minister’s spokesperson for international media, characterized the May 2025 event as a demonstration of Pakistan’s military capability and political restraint.
“Pakistan’s resolute and precise military response to India’s offensive actions, and its courageous restraint and acceptance of India’s desperate appeal for a ceasefire re-established two long established but often forgotten realities,” Zaidi told Arab News.
“[First], Pakistan has the military capability and political maturity to continue to be, by the grace of God, the most dependable net security provider for the regions in its sphere and for the world at large.”
Zaidi said that the second reality exposed by the conflict was that “India’s obsession with regional hegemony makes it a global driver of risk — and that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has always been and will remain the world’s primary defense against this metastasizing risk.”
PM Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir earned widespread praise, including from US President Donald Trump, for agreeing to the US-brokered ceasefire to end the conflict, which had raised fears of a full-blown war between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
The conflict “busted the myth of India as an unquestioned global power,” according to former Pakistani diplomat Naela Chohan. The high quality of Pakistan’s domestic defense production, tested under wartime conditions, opened “greater market access... in previously untapped international markets.”
Chohan emphasized that the conflict also returned the Kashmir issue to the center of global discourse and reminded “the global community of its responsibility to resolve this long-pending agenda item of the United Nations Security Council.”
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.
Both claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought multiple wars over it.
However, Asif Durrani, another veteran Pakistani diplomat, warned that while the 2025 events proved Pakistan’s “deterrence credibility,” the underlying causes of friction remain unresolved.
“The ceasefire may have silenced the guns temporarily, but it has not addressed the structural drivers of hostility,” Durrani told Arab News.
Islamabad’s call for an independent inquiry into the Pahalgam incident projected “confidence and responsibility,” compared to New Delhi’s determination “to act as judge, jury, and executioner simultaneously,” according to the former diplomat. The regional landscape remains volatile, with hyper-nationalism in India shrinking the space for moderation.
“Under these circumstances, Pakistan’s foremost requirement is vigilance coupled with strategic maturity,” he said. “The challenge ahead is not merely military; it is political, psychological, and ideological.”
Despite lingering risks and pressure for domestic economic recovery, Zaidi maintained that the 2025 conflict served as a “pivot point” for Pakistan.
“Marka-e-Haq is the demonstrable proof of Pakistani national power and capability,” he said. “The road is long and arduous, but the leadership and its sincerity of purpose are perfectly positioned to deliver many more wins.”
