If anyone wishes to test us, they are more than welcome: DG ISPR

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Thursday that Pakistan and its armed forces were prepared, adding that “if anyone wishes to test us, they are more than welcome.”

He made these remarkswhile addressing a presser along with Rear Admiral Shifaat Ali Khan and Air Vice Marshal Tariq Ghazi on the one-year anniversary of Marka-e-Haq (Battle of Truth).

“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.

He said that an attempt had been made to portray, without evidence, that Pakistan had perpetrated terrorism in India.

The DG ISPR added that it had been one year since the Pahalgam incident, yet the questions that Pakistan had asked remain unanswered.

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He stated that Marka-e-Haq had ten strategic outcomes, the first being that the Indian narrative portraying Pakistan as a source of terrorism was effectively discredited.

He further said that the second consequence was the strengthening of Pakistan’s position as a net security stabiliser in the region.

“Marka-e-Haq demonstrated who was managing and controlling escalation dynamics.

India escalated the situation on the basis of a false premise.”

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Regarding the third strategic consequence, the DG ISPR said it concerned “our eastern neighbour,” referring to what he described as the “politicisation of Indian military leadership and the militarisation of Indian political leadership.”

“You heard their air chief marshal a few months after [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.”

He said this development reflected a broader shift in India, noting that its military, which was previously regarded as professional, had “unfortunately become politicised.”

General Chaudhry said that the fourth outcome was the global recognition of India’s attempts to externalise its internal issues and internalise external ones, while allegedly using terrorism as a state instrument.

He said that 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.

“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 said the fifth consequence was the “exposure of the true face of the Indian media and its discredited information operations.” He further noted that during Marka-i-Haq, Indian authorities began blocking Pakistani media, a practice he said was still ongoing.

However, he argued that this did not address the underlying problem and advised India to speak the truth instead.

He said the sixth consequence was the “transformed character of warfare,” explaining that it encompassed multi-domain operations, non-contact warfare, synergy, the use of proxies, and information warfare.

He elaborated that modern warfare was no longer confined to physical borders, but was fought across land, sea, air, cyberspace, and even within the cognitive domain.

He added that Pakistan’s armed forces were prepared to engage India across all these domains during Marka-e-Haq, stating, “We were prepared back then, and we are prepared today as well.”

He said the seventh consequence was Pakistan’s demonstrated potential and resilience in addressing multifaceted challenges.

“The eighth consequence is the clear and forceful establishment of deterrence,” the DG ISPR 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 the ninth consequence was Pakistan’s recognition as a geopolitically significant and responsible middle power.

He added that the tenth and most important consequence was the strong and unshakeable synergy between the people, the government, and the armed forces, which he referred to as the “Bunyanum Marsoos effect.”

Background

Tensions between Pakistan and India escalated sharply following a deadly April 22, 2025, attack in Pahalgam, Occupied Kashmir, which killed 26 people, most of them tourists.

India blamed the assault on cross-border elements without offering evidence, a claim Pakistan strongly rejected, calling instead for an independent investigation.

The two South Asian neighbors reached a ceasefire ending a military escalation on May 10.