Singapore, June 2, 2025 — In a rare face-off at the prestigious Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, top military officials from India and Pakistan issued stark warnings to each other, underlining deepening hostilities and renewed tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan and Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman General Sahir Shamshad Mirza addressed separate but concurrent sessions on Saturday, with their remarks revealing a sharp divergence in threat perceptions and strategic outlooks.
General Chauhan, referencing India’s recent Operation Sindoor—an anti-terror action targeting groups across the border—stated that India had redrawn its threshold of tolerance against terrorism. “This is a new red line. Hopefully, our adversary learns that this is the limit of India’s tolerance,” he warned, adding that India had endured proxy terror for over two decades and now aimed to “put an end to it.”
Pakistan, however, has denied any involvement in the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, where 26 tourists were killed, a tragedy India has attributed to Pakistan-based terror outfits.
Responding indirectly, General Mirza emphasized the need for “conflict resolution over conflict management,” warning that the absence of crisis management frameworks could trigger rapid escalation. He underscored the unresolved Kashmir issue as the root of regional instability.
“An early resolution of Kashmir, in line with UN Security Council resolutions and aspirations of its people, is essential for enduring peace,” Mirza said, cautioning that global powers might be “too late” to intervene once hostilities begin.
The high-level exchange has amplified concerns over the fragile stability in South Asia, even as both countries continue to walk a diplomatic tightrope amid rising domestic and international scrutiny.
