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.
On May 6-7 last year, India — after levelling baseless and unfounded allegations against Pakistan for an attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir — launched an attack on Islamabad, which was responded to with full force, humilating New Delhi.
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 marshal? Don’t do that.”
On the other hand, he said: “We have placed the facts as they are.”
This is a developing story and is being updated with further details
