ISLAMABAD: All mainstream political parties, except PTI, on Sunday vowed that Pakistan would give a robust response to India if it resorted to any ‘misadventure’ against the backdrop of the Pahalgam incident, in which 26 civilians were gunned down.

The political leaders made this pledge during an in-camera briefing by the civil and military leadership on Sunday, in which the army spokesperson apprised the mainstream political parties about the latest situation in the region and the preparedness of the country’s armed forces to avert any misadventure by the neighbouring country.

The in-camera briefing was given by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar. However, the main opposition party, PTI, did not attend the huddle.

A source privy to the huddle proceedings told Dawn that the political parties were of the view that they stood by the armed forces to foil any attempt by India to spoil regional peace. Before the briefing, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the main objective of the huddle was to get feedback from the political forces in light of tensions with India.

Participants told India wanted to divert water, intensify Kashmir oppression using Pahalgam

Another source told Dawn that the participants were briefed about how India “prepared and implemented its false flag operation” in Pahalgam. The meeting was informed that India could not sell its narrative to the world and that Pakistan’s stance had emerged stronger in the aftermath of the attack. The participants were also apprised of the preparedness of the armed forces to foil any kind of misadventure by India.

Senator Muhammad Abdul Qadir, who attended the briefing, said that the meeting was informed about how and why India conducted the attack in Pahalgam. Senator Qadir said, as per information shared with the political leaders, the primary objective of the operation was to further divert Indus water, intensify aggression in held Kashmir, and camouflage Indian terrorism with the help of the Afghan Taliban.

With the help of video clips, the participants were given a briefing about Indian involvement in terrorism in Pakistan, especially Balochistan, he added.

PPP leaders Raja Pervez Ashraf, Qamar Zaman Kaira, and Shazia Marri; PML-N’s Barrister Aqeel and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Tallal Chaudhry; PM’s aide Pervez Khattak; MQM-P’s Farooq Sattar; and Kashmiri leader Shah Ghulam Qadir, among others, were in attendance.

Tension between the two nuclear states escalated soon after the Pahalgam attack in which 26 tourists were killed on April 22.

Soon after the attack, India blamed Pakistan for being involved in the attack. On the other hand, Pakistan termed the attack a false flag operation by India and called for a neutral probe.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2025