By Raja Nusrat Ali

May 9, 2023, was such an event in Pakistan’s history that the military leadership could have immediately imposed a state of emergency or martial law, or punished the perpetrators through military courts to make them a horrible example, which would have been measures quite consistent with the gravity of the crime. But this was not done; extreme restraint was exercised, and the national interest was held supreme over all other considerations. It was a high sense of responsibility and discipline on the part of the military establishment to administer the state affairs through a constitutional civilian government. It shows that the military leadership is not interested in power, but it is indeed concerned about bad governance and the hereditary politics of self-interest, which are not solving problems but rather making them more complicated. Moreover, Pakistan’s military establishment has never been oblivious to its primary responsibility to defend the country against internal and external threats. It is always well aware of its enemies, their intentions, and their capacities. On March 11, 2025, the Indian proxy BLA hijacked the Jaffer Express train, and Pakistani security agencies did not take long to overpower the BLA terrorists. Seeing that plan fail, on April 22, 2025, India blamed Pakistan for the Pahalgam massacre. It decided to target the so-called terrorist camps in Pakistan despite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s open offer to cooperate in investigating the incident through the impartial international agencies.

In fact, the incident was a false-flag operation, and in the presence of 36 Rafale jet aircraft, India was cock-sure of settling the score of the downing of an Indian Mig-21 by PAF and captivity of its pilot on February 27, 2019. It was to be a fine chauvinistic act and a good addition to the political profile of PM Modi. India was expecting support for it from the West in linking Pakistan to terrorism to justify its military action inside Pakistan and achieve multiple goals. Through this adventurism, India could prove its military superiority over Pakistan and over the region. It was expected to bring India two major benefits: first, an increased reliance of the United States on India against China and the possibility of India gaining more trade concessions from the U.S.; and second, boosting the morale of Indian terrorist proxies to accelerate their terrorist and subversive attacks in Baluchistan and KP.

After the partition of India, there have been several military conflicts between Pakistan and India, and the people of Pakistan have never accepted Indian domination. However, after the Pahlgam incident, Pakistan’s political and economic conditions did not allow for any military conflict with India, but India had already decided to capitalize on the situation. When India fired missiles at nine locations in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, Pakistan’s immediate response in defense of Indian aggression was very counterproductive for India and far beyond the expectations of the international observers. Pakistan formally informed the media about the destruction of six Indian fighter jets, which included three Rafales, and also announced that India would receive a formal response to its aggression. On the night of May 10, 2025, Pakistan targeted 32 locations in India, 26 of which were Indian airbases. This was a very clear message to India that Pakistan can target all of India and that, regardless of Pakistan’s economic and political conditions, the Pakistan Armed Forces would never allow India to keep Pakistan under duress.

The success of Operation Banyan al-Marsous under the dynamic command of Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir highlights the necessity and importance of the army. Our political leadership needs to understand that Pakistan’s internal and external security issues are very complex and that close cooperation between the military establishment and the government is unavoidable to address the security concerns and reach appropriate decisions. For any conscious Pakistani, it will be a matter of reassurance that the professionalism of the Pakistan Armed Forces is beyond doubt, and there is no compromise on standards of training, merit, Islamic ideology, and purpose. This is not just something to say, but it is an acknowledged fact. Only genuine and visionary political leadership can handle such institutions. Unfortunately, our politics is hereditary and functions merely to manage affairs without adhering to any ideology; there is family domination in major political parties, families have a monopoly, the roots of power politics are very strong, with certain classes dominating the country’s politics. This political disorder severely affects the performance of all national institutions except the defense. Not only this, in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nationalists have not only emerged as a threat to national security due to our political instability, but they have also become tools of our enemy. Even the suppression of anti-national elements by the Pakistan Army, being portrayed incorrectly by local and international media, is proof of our political failures. In such political conditions, disruption in the relationship between the government and the military leadership is natural, and it is often inevitable. So, the political status quo will keep the state system vulnerable to the meddling of the powerful. Therefore, the urgent need of the time for the major political forces of the country is to sit together and lay down the fundamental principles of politics based on the Islamic ideology, which should aim at the reform of political parties, the promotion of democracy, the representation of deprived groups, and the elimination of injustices and deprivations from smaller provinces. By reform of political parties, it is meant that no one should have a monopoly in them, and they should be purely democratic institutions rather than fan clubs. Ensuring the representation of deprived groups, especially those from smaller provinces, will not only realize the dream of political stability in the country but will also leave no room for interference by non-political forces in politics. Thus, it will enable the state to make bigger decisions for the country, and Pakistan will be able to play its role well in line with its new profile in the international community after May 10, 2025. Written by Raja Nusrat Ali