ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir has rejected India’s insinuation of Chinese support to Pak­­i­stan during the clashes between the two neighbours in May, calling it a “shoddy attempt” by New Delhi to repudiate Pakistan’s military capabilities.

Indian deputy army chief Lt Gen Rahul Singh had claimed last week that China gave Islamabad “live inputs” on key Indian positions.

India fought two adversaries during the conflict, with Pakistan being the ‘front face’ while China provided ‘all possible support’, Lt Gen Singh said at a recent defence industry event in New Delhi.

Addressing military offi­­cers at the National Defe­nce University (NDU), Field Marshal Munir called the remarks “irresponsible and incorrect”.

He said the insinuations about external support to the army during Operation Buny­anum Marsoos refl­ected New Delhi’s “chronic reluctance” to acknowledge Pakistan’s “indigenous capability and institutional resilience developed over decades of strategic prudence”.

“Naming other states as participants in the purely bilateral military conflict is also a shoddy attempt at playing camp politics and desperately trying that India remains the beneficiary of larger geopolitical contestation as the so-called net security provider in a region which is getting increasingly weary of its hegemonic and extremist Hindutva ideology”, he said.

Field Marshal Munir noted that India’s “inability to achieve its stated military objectives” during Operation Sindoor and the subsequent attempt to rationalise this shortfall through convoluted logic spoke volumes of its “lack of operational readiness and strategic foresight”.

The COAS declared the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty or territorial integrity will be met with “swift and resolute response without any constraints or inhibitions”. “Any attempt to target our population centres, military bases, economic hubs and ports will instantly invoke a deeply hurting and more than reciprocal response”, he remarked.

‘Normal’ military cooperation

Meanwhile, China on Monday said its military cooperation with Pakistan was “normal”, without posing any threat to a third country.

“…China and Pakistan are close neighbours enjoying traditional friendship. Defence and security cooperation is part of the normal cooperation between the two countries and does not target any third party,” Foreign Ministry Spokes­per­son Mao Ning told a press conference.

She was responding to the Indian general’s claims about Beijing’s alleged military support to Islamabad during the latest hostilities.

She added India and Pakistan “are and will always be each other’s neighbours and were also “important neighbours of China”.

“Over the past weeks and months, China has closely followed the developments between India and Pakistan, actively promoted talks for peace, and worked to maintain regional peace and stability.”

Ms Ning said China would support India and Pakistan in settling differences through dialogue and consultation. “China stands ready to continue playing a constructive role to this end.”

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2025