AT the call of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the nation bowed its heads before Almighty Allah on the Thanksgiving Day on Sunday for showering on Pakistan during the short war with India when its defence forces brought laurels to the country by their professional excellence and bravery.
The enthusiasm witnessed on the occasion was akin to the ‘Youm-e-Takbeer’ celebrated on May 28 in memory of the day when Pakistan detonated its nuclear device that made the country’s defence invincible.
Apart from nawafils and supplications, rallies were organized by religious and political parties across the country in a show of strength and to convey a firm message that the nation stands united to foil designs of the enemy.
It was, indeed, a moment to celebrate as Operation ‘Bunyan-un-Marsoos’ highlighted the fact that after nuclear deterrence, Pakistan has also achieved conventional deterrence, breaking the myth of Indian superiority in conventional defence.
This will, hopefully, prove to be a factor of peace in the otherwise volatile region where India hurls threats every now and then to disturb the peace due to misperception and miscalculation about its conventional strength.
It is worth mentioning that Pakistan’s retaliatory actions were guided by Islamic principles, teachings and traditions and received blessings of Almighty Allah.
As pointed out by Lt. General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director-General, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) during his comprehensive news briefing along with senior officers of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Pakistan Navy (PN), Pakistan’s response to the dastardly attack by India on May 07 was surely befitting, measured and lesson teaching.
It achieved all the three goals that the defence forces had set for themselves at the very outset of the conflict.
Instead of knee-jerk and sentimental reaction, the national leadership pledged to that our defence forces will give a befitting response to Indian aggression; it will come at a time, place and through methods of our own choosing; and when we hit back, the entire world will know—it won’t be something people will need the Indian media to tell them.
The entire world knows India targeted purely civilian targets including mosques and houses resulting in loss of innocent lives and Pakistan had vowed justice and retribution for the reprehensible Indian military aggression and brutal killing of its civilians.
Credit goes to the leadership and defence forces of Pakistan for devising a careful strategic response aimed at controlling the escalation and avoiding civilian casualties.
Pakistan took time in responding to the naked aggression and chose only military targets to strike and this is evident from the damage done to military installations and infrastructure in India, especially its air defence system that was paralyzed.
It was, indeed, the extent of the damage and fear of what is in store for them that the Indian leadership begged for a ceasefire and sought and accepted intervention by a third party (the United States) abandoning its opposition to third party intervention since the Simla agreement.
It is because of the changed scenario that President Donald Trump stated he was willing to work with India and Pakistan “to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir”, a prospect, which many in India see as effective internationalization of the Kashmir dispute.
What Pakistan and India gained in the conflict has aptly been summarized by Al-Jazeera in an op ed “Intended to assert strength, India’s response (to Pahalgam incident) faltered, boosting Pakistan’s regional standing and leaving Modi’s government diplomatically weakened”.
Pakistan no doubt won this round of conflict both on live and diplomatic fronts due to its perfect and truthful strategy but future of the ceasefire and the nature of the relationship between the two nuclear armed neighbours depend on the level of sincerity on the part of New Delhi to address the root causes of tension in the region.
Pakistan must remain fully alert in view of the track record of India, which has been buying time to consolidate its illegitimate and illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and to hatch conspiracies against Pakistan.
