THE first anniversary of Marq-e-Haq (The Battle for Truth), the official name for the broader conflict between Pakistan and India from April 22 to May 10, 2025, is being commemorated across Pakistan with great enthusiasm.
The Pakistani defence forces’ victory in the four-day war marked civil and military leadership’s professional acumen and proficient military muscle. As a result, the country’s stature in the international community has grown and the people of Pakistan feel greater pride and security. The world today is very different from when the United Nations was created in the mid-1940s. It is also different from what it was after the end of the Cold War. The era of state-on-state wars has returned, while the effectiveness of multilateral institutions is quickly declining. Militarily weak or small states are now vulnerable to states seeking regional control and pursuing aggressive foreign policies. Therefore, nations valuing sovereignty must build an unassailable defensive fence.
The Pakistani ruling elite is crystal clear about the designs of its Indian counterparts. Therefore, it was well prepared to counter the extremist, irrational, trigger-happy, Hindutva-driven Modi government’s unprovoked air strikes on May 6-7, 2025, on the mainland of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, which resulted in a four-day military standoff, a period of heightened military tension and potential conflict. India and Pakistan deployed missiles, drones and fighter jets in their heartlands, untouched since the 1971 war. They also used these forces in the disputed territory of Kashmir and exchanged massive artillery fire at the Line of Control. Both sides acted in a measured, non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible manner. Still, the risk of limited war escalating into a full-scale war raised concerns about nuclear deterrence instability.
The Modi government approached the Trump administration on May 10, 2025, seeking to initiate a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following significant losses in a four-day war. Despite setbacks in this brief conflict, some segments of the Indian media continued to use strong nationalist rhetoric. Soon after, New Delhi announced the ‘new normal’—the Modi doctrine—centred on an offensive ‘surgical strike stratagem’ in response to Pakistan. The Modi Doctrine entails the institutionalization of an offensive posture, featuring built-in surgical strikes and graduated escalation—pre-emptive, precise and politically resolute. This ‘graduated escalation’ aspect of the doctrine refers to a strategic approach of escalating responses to provocations, starting with surgical strikes and potentially leading to a full-scale conventional war.
Although India has pronounced a new offensive military doctrine, in practice, it has adopted a hybrid warfare strategy, including suspending the Indus Water Treaty and using proxies to conduct terrorism in Pakistan since the defeat in a four-day war. Conversely, Islamabad expressed its resolve to respond in kind to any aggressive actions, especially surgical strikes or violations of the Indus Waters Treaty. A critical examination of developments after Marq-e-Haq shows that Pakistani defence forces have become more confident in inflicting high costs on India’s use of force. These include downing six Indian fighter jets, three of which were Rafale, as well as destroying S-400 batteries and BrahMos missile sites.
Secondly, Pakistan’s Operation Bunyan-Um-Marsoos (May 7–10, 2025) showed that the Indian military lost its previous advantage in conventional forces. This advantage meant India had more troops and equipment, which it sought to leverage in a limited war against Pakistan. Since May 2025, however, India has failed to compel Pakistan to restore its strategic advantage. Thirdly, Islamabad’s confidence in its conventional posture increased. Its conventional deterrence works when there is a possibility of a major conventional war, but nuclear weapons are not part of the equation.
Fourthly, Pakistan Air Force demonstrated supremacy over the Indian Air Force during the dogfight on May 7, 2025. Indian strategic pundits have been bewildered by the Pakistan Air Force’s superior training, technology and tactics. Fifthly, by dispelling illusions about India’s conventional superiority or ambitions to impose strategic hegemony through a compellence strategy, Pakistan’s counterstrikes checkmated India’s plans, exposed the limits of force and repelled its attempt at escalation dominance.
Sixthly, the Modi government’s false flag strategy to conceal state terrorism within India, particularly in illegally Indian-occupied Kashmir and the failure of Indian intelligence agencies and security forces due to their incompetence by shifting the blame to Pakistan, has been completely exposed. Today, no one is buying India’s victimhood narrative, i.e., it is suffering from state-sponsored terrorism. Seventhly, since 2016, the Modi government has endeavored to isolate Pakistan, which has completely quashed after the success of Marq-e-Haq. Presently, Pakistan has emerged as a central mediator in the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, hosting high-level Islamabad Talks on April 11-12, 2026 and facilitating ceasefire arrangements. The Pakistani leadership’s skillful diplomacy prevented escalation between the US and Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump and others acknowledged their role in brokering a ceasefire and starting negotiations to end hostilities between Iran and the United States. The preceding discussion underscores that the triumph of Marq-e-Haq has immensely transformed Pakistan’s strategic outlook.
—The writer is Prof at the School of Politics and IR, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
