ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has reiterated the country’s principled stance that any Indian misadventure or attempts to undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty or violation of its territorial integrity will be met with a “swift and resolute response without any constraints or inhibitions.”
While addressing the graduating officers of the National Security and War Course at the National Defence University (NDU), Field Marshal Asim Munir noted that India’s inability to achieve its stated military objectives during Operation Sindoor—and the subsequent attempt to rationalise this shortfall through convoluted logic—speaks volumes about its lack of operational readiness and strategic foresight.
The Army Chief’s statement referred to the conflict that saw both India and Pakistan using missiles, drones, and artillery fire during the four-day fighting triggered by an attack on April 22 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without presenting any evidence, before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Pakistan has condemned the attack and denied any involvement in the incident. Pakistan has repeatedly offered a neutral and transparent international investigation into the incident; however, India failed to respond to Pakistan’s offer and continued with its aggressive posture.
In response to India’s Operation Sindoor, Pakistan launched Operation Bunyanum Marsoos to give India a swift and firm response.
“Insinuations regarding external support in Pakistan’s successful Operation Bunyanum Marsoos are irresponsible and factually incorrect and reflect a chronic reluctance to acknowledge indigenous capability and institutional resilience developed over decades of strategic prudence,” Field Marshal Asim Munir said, according to a press release issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The Army Chief said that naming other states as participants in the purely bilateral military conflagration is also a “shoddy attempt at playing camp politics” and desperately trying that India remains the beneficiary of larger geopolitical contestation as the “so-called net security provider” in a region which is getting increasingly weary of its “hegemonic and extremist Hindutva ideology”.
Highlighting India’s strategic behaviour resting on parochial self-alignment, the Army Chief stressed that Pakistan has forged lasting partnerships based on principled diplomacy, anchored in mutual respect and peace, establishing itself as a stabiliser in the region.
The “COAS reiterated Pakistan’s principled stance that any misadventure or attempts to undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty or violation of territorial integrity will continue to be reflexively met with a swift and resolute response without any constraints or inhibitions”.
“Any attempt to target our population centres, military bases, economic hubs and ports will instantly invoke a ‘deeply hurting and more than reciprocal response”, Field Marshal Munir warned. He maintained that the onus of escalation will squarely lie on the “strategically blind, arrogant aggressor” who fails to see the grave repercussions of such provocative actions against a sovereign nuclear state.
The Army Chief remarked that wars are not won through media rhetoric, imported fancy hardware, or political sloganeering, but through faith, professional competence, operational clarity, institutional strength and national resolve.
Highlighting the evolving character of warfare, the Army Chief underscored the centrality of mental preparedness, operational clarity, and institutional professionalism in navigating complex strategic issues.
The Field Marshal lauded the role of premier institutions like NDU in enhancing civil-military synergy and nurturing future leadership capable of mitigating hybrid, conventional, and sub-conventional threats with poise and resolve.
The COAS expressed full confidence in the professionalism, morale, and readiness of the battle-hardened Armed Forces of Pakistan and urged the graduating officers to remain steadfast in the values of integrity, selfless service, and unwavering commitment to the nation.
On arrival, COAS Field Marshal Asim Munir was warmly received by the President of NDU.
