Countering Pakistan’s threat games The Excelsior 10 Jul 2025 Maj Gen Harsha Kakar
https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/countering-pakistans-threat-games/
Countering Pakistan’s threat games The Excelsior 10 Jul 2025
Addressing the passing our parade at its Naval Academy, Pakistan’s self-appointed Field Marshal, Asim Munir, accused India of raising tensions in the region post the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Munir claimed that Pakistan was the ‘net regional stabilizer’ as also that it responded with firmness to India’s ‘unprovoked military actions.’ He stated, ‘Despite provocations, Pakistan has shown restraint and maturity, reaffirming its commitment to regional peace.’
This was expected as Munir is desperate to hide reality of Pak losing almost all its air defence resources alongside damage to its strategic airbases and aircraft, which caused panic within. He will continue this rhetoric to justify his grabbing the post of Field Marshal, despite massive setbacks. Acceptance of loss would imply internal upheaval and end of army power.
What irked India was his open support to terrorism in Kashmir. He mentioned, ‘What India tends to term as terrorism is in fact a legitimate struggle as per international conventions.’ This is in itself an admittance of Pakistan supporting terrorism. His justification was, ‘Kashmir is our jugular vein; it will remain our jugular vein; we will not forget it.’
The reality is Pakistan has no love for Kashmir or Kashmiris. It is only concerned about their water emanating from the region. POK is as bad as Baluchistan in development, while Kashmir is leaps ahead in infrastructure and economy.
All Pakistan leaders have repeatedly mentioned that they will continue to provide moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris. They have always demanded implementation of the UNSC resolution on Kashmir, despite neither having read nor understood it. The UNSC resolution currently is meaningless as India insists all disputes will remain bilateral.
This rhetoric coming from Munir is also to offset internal attention towards the country’s collapsing law and order scenario. The Pak army is unable to manage rising violence in its western provinces, where in Jun alone almost 60 security personnel were killed. Now, in desperation, Pak terms these freedom movements as Indian sponsored. India, unlike Pakistan, has never mentioned that the movement in Baluchistan is legitimate and that it has Indian support.
Munir has regularly boasted that terrorism within Pak will be controlled shortly, words he is forced to eat. In mid-Apr, addressing the first Overseas Pakistanis Convention Munir had mentioned, ‘Even ten generations of terrorists cannot damage Baluchistan or Pakistan.’ At the academy he stated, ‘If the 1.3-million strong Indian Army can’t intimidate us…you will see that we will beat these terrorists very soon.’ In reality, the situation is moving from bad to worse, with the Pak army slowly losing control.
Munir’s frustration is expected. Pak was forced to concede defeat and request India for a ceasefire. It suffered destruction of its terrorist infrastructure, strategic aircraft, airbases while its army posts were vacated when the Indian artillery launched its onslaughts. The reality is known to its local populace as videos of destruction were posted by them.
Munir gained a reprieve with his private lunch with Trump, his praise and claims of him brokering the ceasefire. Though reasons for the luncheon were vastly different. It was to push the Trump family’s crypto business, seek mining concessions as also support any future operations against Iran. Trump indirectly encouraged Munir to continue running the country and possibly offered support in case he overthrew the civilian leadership.
The recent QUAD foreign ministers’ meeting in Washington was where India responded in equal measure. Jaishankar, addressing QUAD foreign ministers was firm and clear on what India felt. He laid down India’s redlines, aware that it will be understood by the US, which backs Pakistan for its own interests, as also Asim Munir.
Jaishankar mentioned, ‘India has every right to defend its people against terrorism, and we will exercise that right. We expect our Quad partners to understand and appreciate that.’ He added, ‘we will not deal with them (terrorists) any longer as proxies and spare the government which supports and finances and, in many ways, motivates them.’ Hitting back at Trump he mentioned that India will not succumb to nuclear blackmail.
While Munir hinted at continuing to back terrorism and encouraging terrorist incidents, Jaishankar conveyed that the next Indian strike will be launched with an open intent of destruction of the Pak military, hitting both, its military installations and terrorist infrastructure simultaneously. Also, while Pakistan accuses India of involvement in terrorism in its western provinces, India denies it.
Indian and Pak diplomacy did not achieve their desired goals post Operation Sindoor. Nations, including QUAD allies, offered condolences for Pahalgam but refused to blame Pakistan. Pakistan attempted to accuse India of falsely accusing it for Pahalgam and instigating tensions, but failed. Its attempt to blame India for its rising terrorism within also had no takers.
The world message was that terrorism is your problem. Resolve it the way, you see fit. This was expected as New Delhi too refused to condemn Russia for its Ukraine invasion despite requests from Europe and the US. Jaishankar had then stated, ‘Somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems.’ The world responded in a similar manner. For them, their relationship with Pakistan is different from theirs with India.
However, the QUAD meeting was a success. The QUAD joint statement condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam as also demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice. All this without naming Pakistan or the terrorist group concerned. It mentioned, ‘We call for the perpetrators, organizers, and financiers of this reprehensible act to be brought to justice without any delay.’ The aim was to push FATF to act against Pakistan, once proof of its involvement emerged. This is a positive change after India failed to push through Pahalgam in the SCO defence ministers’ meet recently.
India and Pakistan have been sending contradictory messages. While Pakistan is encouraging terrorist violence and accusing India of sponsoring terrorism within, India is conveying that it will respond militarily to any terrorist incident on its soil. The atmosphere at the moment is nowhere conducive for any form of communication or reconciliation. With India having demonstrated its resolve and now conveying its future strategy globally, Munir will have to consider whether he can risk another Pahalgam.