In the latest round of hostilities between India and Pakistan, a US-brokered ceasefire has sought to pause what risked spiralling into a catastrophic conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.<\/p>\n
But make no mistake: this was no negotiated compromise between equals in the conflict. Pakistan agreed to the ceasefire after securing a calculated victory by firmly denying a much stronger India the military edge and diplomatic narrative it sought to dominate.<\/p>\n
The crisis began in the wake of the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, which India swiftly blamed on Pakistan-based militants without providing evidence. Islamabad\u2019s call for a neutral investigation was brushed aside. Instead, New Delhi escalated \u2014 launching missile and drone strikes into Pakistani territory beginning May 7. The most intense exchanges came on the night of May 9-10, one of the tensest nights in decades, when Indian forces targeted Pakistani military installations, only to face swift and strategic retaliation from Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s military response during the entire crisis was measured and decisive. Retaliating to India\u2019s Operation Sindoor, Pakistan\u2019s forces on May 7 took down five Indian jets, including advanced Rafales, using Chinese-supplied J-10Cs and PL-15E missiles \u2014 an undeniable blow to India\u2019s air superiority pretensions. And then on May 10, in a rare and calculated action, Pakistan neutralised Indian S-400 missile systems using hypersonic missiles fired from JF-17 aircraft. These kills \u2014 Rafales and S-400 system \u2014 sent a message not only across the border but across the globe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week\u2019s India-Pakistan conflict has marked a turning point, with modern conventional weaponry reshaping the battlefield and expanding the scope for the conventional use of force,\u201d Muhammad Faisal, South Asia research analyst at the University of Technology Sydney, said.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s ambitions to dominate the escalation ladder \u2014 long a cornerstone of its regional strategy \u2014 collapsed under the weight of these setbacks. The Rafale and S-400, icons of India\u2019s defence modernisation, became symbols of its miscalculation. For the first time in years, Pakistan demonstrated not just parity but deterrent credibility that undermined India\u2019s claims of military primacy.<\/p>\n
Former national security adviser Gen Nasser Janjua said, \u201cPakistan has successfully re-established the deterrence, stability and balance in the region. Pakistan has also successfully buried the concept of limited war under a nuclear environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diplomatically, too, the tide turned. As the spectre of escalation loomed, the United States intervened \u2014 not out of favour to one side, but out of alarm. With India\u2019s air force facing serious attrition and risk of deeper military degradation, Washington acted to cap the conflict.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Mark Rubio\u2019s diplomacy made the leadership of both warring countries, including Army Chief Gen Asim Munir, negotiate. Crucially, the resulting agreement was not just about ceasing hostilities; it included Pakistan\u2019s long-standing demand: that future talks take place at a neutral venue. This was not a face-saving gesture, it was rather a strategic vindication.<\/p>\n
Simultaneously, the G7\u2019s restrained statement of May 10, notably avoiding any blame on Pakistan and instead urging dialogue and de-escalation, marked a diplomatic win for Islamabad. India\u2019s narrative \u2014 that it was the aggrieved party reacting to terrorism\u2014failed to gain traction. Instead, New Delhi found itself incr\u00adeasingly portrayed as the aggressor, its unilateral actions and refusal of an independent probe into Pahalgam casting doubt on its intentions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia overassessed and miscalculated its newfound relevance while eyeing to become a counterweight to China and being part of the Indo-Pacific strategy. The whole conflict till May 10 exposed India\u2019s exaggerated and inflamed strategic relevance,\u201d Gen Janjua maintained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the latest round of hostilities between India and Pakistan, a US-brokered ceasefire has sought to pause what risked spiralling into a catastrophic conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. But make no mistake: this was no negotiated compromise between equals in the conflict. Pakistan agreed to the ceasefire after securing a calculated victory by firmly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9027,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9025\/revisions\/9027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}