Month of May has somehow acquired a special significance in South Asian history. It was on May 18, 1974 when India introduced the nuclear weapons in the regional security dynamics by conducting its first nuclear test though with an attempt to mask it as a Peaceful Nuclear Explosion. That was a wake call to Pakistan having suffered Indian aggression in the recent past to accelerate its own nuclear effort which had now become a national security imperative. Twenty four years down the line, again in the fateful month of May, India once again caused seismic waves to shake the foundations of South Asia’s strategic balance on 11th of May 1998 and repeating the same despicable act on 13th of May forcing Pakistan to act on 28th and then 30th of May to restore the strategic balance that had been shaken by India’s irresponsible actions.
Now in May 2025, while the Pakistani nation was preparing to commemorate the 27 years of ‘Youm-i-Takbeer’, the extremist Hindu right wing Indian government showed its ugly face once again. Staging the usual false flag operation in Indian Occupied Kashmir and pronouncing the unilateral verdict of Pakistani involvement without a proper investigation and without providing semblance of an evidence. Following the well-worn out pattern this was followed two weeks later by blatant aggression against civilian and military targets inside Azad Jammu and Kashmir and mainland Pakistan, causing the deaths of innocent men, women and children and injuries to many more besides causing some casualties amongst the uniformed personnel performing their sacred duty of defending their homeland. India’s evil designs were blunted by the professional acumen and fighting skills of Pakistan Air Force which buried the Indian pride and arrogance in the dust of Bathinda, Akhnur, Avantipura, and Srinagar. In the process losing their much flaunted French made 3 Rafales, an SU-30 and a MiG-29. The much vaunted S-400 air defense system also suffered at the hands of the Pakistani air warriors. While Pakistani military provided concrete evidence of its successes in interactions with local and international media, Indians maintained an eerie silence. Even in the post cease fire press briefing by senior officers of three Indian services their appearance and body language said it all. If at all any doubt was left it was cleared by the meek intervention of the IAF officer declaring that losses are a part of operations without either acknowledging or denying the reported losses.
After 4 days of clashes involving air force assets, modern surface to surface and air to surface stand-off missiles, artillery rocket systems and a large number of drones of different origins and varieties, the Indians were provided some face saving through the intervention of the American senior leadership including the Vice President and Secretary of State and the announcement of a cease fire agreement by President Trump himself. Indians ever allergic to foreign intervention – at least publicly – had to swallow their pride to save their skins. Now the Indians are trying to take refuge into the fact that Pakistani DGMO contacted his Indian counterpart on hotline and trying to present it as a Pakistani climb down, whereas any sane person would know that DGMOs come into action to execute the orders on ground after the decisions have been taken by the political leaderships on both sides. As for the role of media during the short conflict the less said, the better about the beyond theatrical performance of the bulk of Indian media, with anchors and senior retired officers alike, shouting and frothing at their mouths without any substance and making a mockery of themselves. Pakistani media by contrast behaved far more responsibly with some getting overcome by emotions at times but generally maintaining good standard of wit and civility.
In his post cease-fire speech PM Modi has tried to cover his reddened face with excessive distortion of facts, blatant lies and misrepresentation to calm the nerves of a distraught nation long fed with the Hindutva superamacist sloganeering which has suddenly come crashing to the ground. However, he conveniently ignored the fact that in the modern day and time and in an age of social media, truth cannot remain hidden for long. In fact, local Indian villagers recorded and uploaded the evidence of downed Indian aircraft well before the Indian security forces could reach the sites to remove the debris and any other evidence.
As Pakistanis, we are justified in celebrating the brilliant success achieved by our armed forces across the spectrum of conflict. However, as a mature nation we need to learn not to go overboard in either celebrating success or mourning failure. The dignity and sobriety must be maintained in celebration. Additionally, we must remember that India is not a country that will easily forget its embarrassing defeat at the hands of Pakistan and cunning as they are one cannot rule out another ill-considered action on part of India after licking their wounds. We, therefore, cannot afford to let our guards down for now so that in case of another attempted misadventure we should again extract high price from the adversary.
On another account, contrary to some, I can confidently vouch that our deterrence remains credible and if anyone harbored any doubt about it has been strongly dispelled. It is our deterrence that has forced our adversary to carefully calibrate its actions against Pakistan and, being aware of the potency and credibility of our deterrence capability, recoil back well before nearing Pakistan’s nuclear red lines . So another May is passing witnessing the grit and resolve of the Pakistani nations in the face of all odds and keeping the spirit of the Youm-i-Takbeer alive.
