Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir has warned that any future misadventure against Pakistan would not be limited in impact but would be “severe, far-reaching and painful.”
The remarks were delivered at a ceremony held at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, marking one year since what Pakistan describes as its military success in last year’s confrontation with India.
The confrontation, which is said to have begun with the April 22 Pahalgam incident and concluded with a ceasefire on May 10 following Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, has been officially termed “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth) by the state.
Field Marshal Asim Munir attended the event as the chief guest, alongside Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf, who were also present at the occasion.
Addressing the ceremony, Field Marshal Munir warned: “Our enemies should know that if any attempt is made in the future to carry out a misadventure against Pakistan, then the impact of war would not be limited, but extremely widespread, dangerous, far-reaching and painful.”
At the outset of his speech, the army chief said the day was a “source of pride” for Pakistan, its public and the armed forces.
He recalled that the “enemy made a failed attempt to test our resolve by violating the sovereignty and territory” of Pakistan from the midnight of May 6/7 till May 10. He asserted this was responded to “with full national unity and military force”.
“Marka-i-Haq was not merely a traditional war fought between two countries or militaries, but in reality, it was a decisive marka (battle) between two ideologies, in which, thanks to Allah, the truth won and falsehood was met with defeat,” he noted.
Quoting a Quranic verse on truth and falsehood, he stressed that the May 2025 conflict was “not a sudden incident, but rather a part of India’s false and widening pattern of exploitative tactics”.
“The false flag operations of 2001, 2008, 2016 and 2019 are a testament that even in the past, India has made failed attempts to impose an illegitimate war on Pakistan and […] achieve narrow-minded, long-term political and military objectives through allegations, exaggeration, warmongering and misleading imagination of limited aggression,” CDF Munir said.
“Each time, not only did Pakistan unveil the wrong estimates of the enemy, but also served it a decisive defeat. In this war as well, India once again was a victim of its obsolete and self-delusional thinking,” he asserted.
The army chief highlighted that the objective of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos was to “unravel the enemy’s behaviour under which, to divert attention from its internal failures, it creates war hysteria by blaming Pakistan for every self-inflicted incident”.
CDF Munir said India was under the false assumption that it could “change the balance of power and prove its dominance over the region by making Pakistan a target of its military aggression and diplomatically isolating it”.
“But in reality, global and defence experts know that India’s ambitions proved to be much larger than its stature and capabilities,” COAS Munir remarked, asserting that Pakistan’s armed forces were not intimidated by the dominance of power and will never do so.
He paid tribute to the martyrs of Marka-i-Haq who “paid the price of this victory with their blood”, including women, the elderly and children killed in Indian strikes.
“All martyrs of Marka-i-Haq and their bereaved families are our crown. Your sacrifices are the guarantor of our independence and everlasting debts,” the army chief said. “We consider our martyrs an amanat, our power a responsibility, and our success a favour of God,” he added.
The army chief proceeded to express his gratitude to the president, the prime minister, the federal cabinet, the national and provincial political leadership, and all political parties for their “everlasting political wisdom, foresight and leadership” that accorded Pakistan success.
“The national leadership, all government institutions and the Pakistani nation gave a message as a single unit that any compromise on the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national honour is unacceptable,” he declared.
CDF Munir stated that Pakistan also “achieved success on the diplomatic front” as its leaders and representatives conveyed Pakistan’s stance on the global stage.
“Similarly, there is no parallel found to the way the Pakistani media, the journalist community, and especially our youth, thwarted the enemy’s propaganda, cyberwarfare and psychological tactics,” he added.
The army chief highlighted that the conflict was not won on just the battlefield, but also “in every section of society” at the national level. Emphasising that a country’s true power lies with its nation’s unity of thought and action, and patriotism, he lauded the “comprehensive national unity” displayed by the public.
“When the clouds of war loomed, we saw that every ideological and individual identity was transformed into Pakistaniyat — labourers, traders, students, the elderly and the young, and all Pakistani men and women resolved to defend their homeland,” he recalled.
“We witnessed a relation between the nation, the government, and the armed forces by virtue of which the entire nation lined up in defence of the country like an iron wall,” the army chief said.
He then recited a Quranic verse from which the phrase “Bunyanum Marsoos” for Pakistan’s retaliatory operation was derived. The verse was also recited earlier during the ceremony.
“In this battle, not only did the armed forces defeat the aggressor enemy beyond its imagination, but the professional expertise and top military strategy of our ground, naval and air forces forced the enemy to meet defeat,” the military chief said.
The CDF commended the air force personnel for “reducing the enemy’s pride to dust and setting the unique example of the modern era’s longest and decisive air battle” under the leadership of the air chief.
“Not only did they down the enemy’s several modern fighter jets, but also destroyed numerous military installations,” he said.