Pakistan-India Conflict 2025: News Updates and Discussion

'We are prepared': DG ISPR touts Pakistan's indigenous military capabilities​

News Desk
May 7, 2026

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry is currently addressing a press conference. The deputy chief of naval staff (operations), Rear Admiral Shafaat Ali, and the deputy chief of air staff (projects), Air Vice Marshal, Tariq Ghazi, are also present alongside him.

The press conference comes as the nation commemorates the one-year anniversary of Marka-i-Haq. Last year’s military conflict with India, starting from the April 22 Pahalgam attack to the end of Pakistan’s Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, with a ceasefire ending a military escalation between the two countries on May 10, has been called “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth) by the state.

“We welcome you to ISPR on this happy day,” he said at the outset of his presser, congratulating the nation on the one-year anniversary of Marka-i-Haq.

He said that the country’s armed forces had risen to the nation’s expectations and defeated a much larger enemy with multi-domain operations.

“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 expand on the “strategic consequences” of the conflict.
 
Night and day difference between the PAF and ISPR presser a from today. Seriously what is up with the unprofessionalism with ISPR? Haven't seen a single decent presser from the guy apart from may last year and that too because the international media was involved. Otherwise, oh boy.
 
Coming to the third strategic consequence of Marka-i-Haq, he said it was related to “our eastern neighbour, unfortunately”, saying it was the “politicisation of Indian military leadership and militarisation of Indian political leadership.”

“This is what’s happening over there”, he said, adding that India’s military, which used to be professional, had “unfortunately been politicised”.

“You will come across several examples of this,” he added. “You heard their air chief marshal a few months after Marka-i-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, the DG ISPR continued, “We have placed the facts as they are.”

Moreover, he said, Indian politicians appeared more like “warmongers”, going by their statements. The DG ISPR asserted that the politicisation of the military and militarisation of politics was “dangerous”.

Moving on to the fourth strategic consequence, he said it was the global acknowledgement of India’s efforts to externalise its internal problems and internalise its external problems while using terrorism as a state tool.
 
He said India’s internal problems included the repression of minorities and Kashmiris. This, he said, “comes from a false sense of entitlement and this hubristic attitude”.

The DG ISPR said India did not want to solve its internal issues, and hence, was externalising them by levelling allegations that Pakistan was behind terrorism in the neighbouring country. He said these issues needed to be addressed “politically and internally”.

“Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute,” he said. “It’s not your internal problem for you to make demographic changes there … you cannot do that.”

He reiterated the allegations India was backing terrorism in Pakistan, further stating that “they were even behind terrorism in their own country and would then accuse others”.

But, he added, what changed after Marka-i-Haq was that the world recognised how they operated.
 
He said the fifth consequence was the “exposure of the true face of the Indian media and its discredited information operations”. The DG ISPR also noted that Indian authorities had started “shutting down Pakistani media” during Marka-i-Haq and this practice was still ongoing.

But that did not solve the problem, he said, adding that his advice to India was to speak the truth.

“That’s what Pakistan did … The only thing that can survive in today’s information domain in truth. Tell people the truth. But somehow the Indians think they can work their [way] around lies. It doesn’t work anymore.”

He said the sixth consequence was the “transformed character of warfare”. Elaborating on this, he said this covered multi-domain operations, non-contact warfare, synergy, proxies and information.

The DG ISPR explained that warfare was not limited to borders anymore. “It’s [fought] on land, in the sea, in the air, in cyberspace … and in the minds. It’s cognitive as well.”

He said Pakistan’s armed forces were prepared to fight against India during Marka-i-Haq in all those domains. “We were prepared back then, and we are prepared today as well.”

The seventh consequence, he said, was Pakistan’s proven potential and the resilience to combat multifaceted challenges. The eighth was the loud and clear establishment of deterrence, he said.

“Anyone who thinks there is space for war between two nuclear neighbours is crazy. That is madness. Only a madman can think about. You want to do it, then there should be no doubt about our resolve,” he said.
 
He said that the ninth consequence was that Pakistan was recognised as a geopolitically significant and responsible middle power. He said that the last, but most important consequence, was the unshakeable synergy between the people, the government and the armed forces, “which we call the Bunyanum Marsoos effect”.

During the press conference, he also presented figures on counterterrorist efforts post-Marka-i-Haq. He said that India was given a “lesson of their life” and they fell back on their default option, which was terrorist proxies.

“We saw a surge in terrorist incidents post-Marka-i-Haq,” he said, showing the figures on the screen. He said that in October, Pakistan struck terrorist support infrastructures in neighbouring Afghanistan. He said that the number of incidents subsequently went down
 

The 2025 Pakistan-India conflict — as it happened​

Dawn recounts decisive moments during Marka-i-Haq etched in history and lesser-noticed developments.

Muskaan Mujahid
May 6, 2026

A year ago, Pakistan was engaged in a military conflict with India, dealing the boastful neighbour an internationally recognised “clear setback”.

The conflict with India, starting from the April 22 Pahalgam attack to the end of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, with a ceasefire ending a military escalation between the two countries on May 10, has been called “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth) by the state.

But from the night of May 6 to May 10, the drums of war were echoing loudly across South Asia as the nuclear-armed arch-rivals exchanged missiles, raising global alarm over the risk of unpredictable escalation.

Dawn retraces the period of military hostilities, recounting not just the decisive moments etched in history, but the less-noticed developments that shaped the news cycle at the time.

May 6​

With exchange of fire on the Line of Control (LoC) beginning on April 26 — bringing tensions between India and Pakistan to an alarming level — the armed forces were prepared with their full might for what was to come.

This was reflected in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters on May 6.

“We are ready for them everywhere at all times,” said Defence Minister Khawaja Asif hours later, cautioning that a clash with India “can happen anytime”.

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and the services chiefs pose for a group photo at the ISI headquarters in Islamabad on May 6, 2025. — X/PTVNewsOfficial/File
 

May 7​

Shortly after midnight, the military’s spokesman, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, confirmed that India carried out missile strikes at Bahawalpur, Muridke, Narowal and Sialkot in Punjab, and Muzaffarabad and Kotli in AJK.

Those attacks, which killed at least 31 Pakistani civilians and left many others injured, did not go unanswered.

What unfolded next did not merely showcase the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) battle capabilities but also became a potential case study for militaries worldwide.

By dawn, Pakistan had shot down at least five Indian jets — a figure later raised to seven. These included at least three Rafale fighter jets — the pride of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The US, which ended up brokering peace between the nuclear-armed neighbours, immediately activated its diplomatic channels. President Donald Trump hoped the fighting would end “very quickly”.

Then came a press briefing by the DG ISPR, detailing the extent of the Indian strikes’ damage and Pakistan’s response in self-defence to the “uncalled-for aggression”.

Top-level huddles were underway in Islamabad, where the prime minister, the three services chiefs and the newly appointed national security adviser (NSA) were attending a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC).

The NSC authorised the military to “undertake corresponding actions”.

Across the border, New Delhi was busy broadcasting its narrative, with its military officials briefing the media on the strikes carried out as part of “Operation Sindoor”.

In China, defence-manufacturing companies enjoyed rallying stocks amid widely believed reports — later confirmed — that the PAF shot down India’s prized Rafales using Chinese J-10C jets.
 
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