Pakistan’s top military man General Sahir Shamshad Mirza has stressed the need to move towards conflict resolution instead of management, warning that its absence could result in a destructive escalation.
The remarks follow a recent military confrontation between India and Pakistan over New Delhi’s allegations against Islamabad, without evidence, about a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. As New Delhi launched air strikes in early May, killing civilians, Pakistan downed five Indian jets in retaliation. After tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally reach a ceasefire.
Gen Mirza, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, made the remarks at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue 2025 organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore on Saturday evening.
During a panel discussion, titled “Regional Crisis-Management Mechanisms”, Gen Mirza said: “It has become imperative to move beyond conflict management towards conflict resolution. This will ensure sustainable peace and an assured crisis management.”
He then stressed that an “early resolution of Kashmir in line with the UN Security Council resolutions and as per the aspirations of the people is essential” for an enduring peace in South Asia.
The CJCSC cautioned: “Given the Indian policies and polities’ extremist mindset, the absence of a crisis management mechanism may not give enough time to the global powers to intervene and affect cessation of hostilities. They will be probably too late to avoid damage and destruction.”
During his address, Gen Mirza also highlighted the Kashmir dispute and the recent military clash between Pakistan and India.
“When there is no crisis, Kashmir is never discussed, and as we always say that it is the Kashmir dispute resolution in line with the aspirations of the people of Kashmir and in line with the UNSC resolutions that will address many issues.
“The core that resides between Pakistan and India is Kashmir,” the CJCSC pointed out.
He added that unless countries did not “enter conflict resolution” — which he said could initially be through conflict management and then lead to resolution — issues would “always erupt”.
Other speakers on the panel included Canada’s Deputy Minister of National Defence Stefanie Beck and Fiji’s army chief Major Gen Jone Logavatu Kalouniwai. India’s Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan also addressed a separate discussion on defence innovation yesterday.
Gen Mirza said the recent Pak-India escalation had underscored “how regional crisis management frameworks remain hostage to countries’ belligerence”, noting that the only line of contact between the two countries was the director general military operations (DGMO) hotline.
The top general further said that following the military conflict, the “threshold of an escalatory war has come dangerously low, implying greater risk on both sides, not just in the disputed territory but all of India and all of Pakistan”.
“Emboldening of India as a net security provider by the West and its ambition to become a regional hegemon is disincentivising it to engage in conflict management options,” CJCSC Mirza asserted.
He went on to state that Pakistan desired a “peaceful coexistence with India based on mutual respect, sovereign equality and most importantly, dignity and honour”.
“We seek a principal order, an order anchored in sovereign equality and restraint. In this, crisis management is not merely a set of tools but a strategic ethic,” he added.
The CJCSC stressed the need for instead of chalking out new mechanisms, the Asia-Pacific and South Asia regions required to re-energise and strengthen existing bilateral, regional and multilateral frameworks. “States need to communicate more and more often and more effectively.”
‘Conventional warfare threshold now dangerously lower’
During the IISS session, Gen Mirza also asserted that following the Pakistan-India military clash, the threshold of conventional warfare had “significantly degraded” to “dangerous levels”.
“The lowering of this threshold to the dangerous levels, if next time such a conflict occurs and the cities are targeted first and the borders become irrelevant mostly, […] there could be a chance — I’m not trying to create an alarm but I’m speaking based on logic — there could be a possibility that before the international community intervenes because of the restricted or constricted times window, the damage and destruction may have already taken place,” he warned.
Gen Mirza pointed out that the 1965 and 1971 wars with India were “always confined to the disputed territory”. “[However,] this time, it has transcended that and come to the international border.”
The CJCSC further noted: “Instead of targeting the borders first, which used to be the conventional domain or erstwhile domain, the cities have been targeted and the borders have relatively remained, if not silent, comfortable.”
On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi had launched a series of air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir, resulting in at least 40 civilians losing their lives with 121 others injured.
The military has confirmed that 13 security personnel, including members of the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Air Force, were martyred while over 75 were injured during the confrontation with India.
Noting that by those attacks, India had “crossed the threshold of disputed territory into the international border”, Gen Mirza said it had significantly lowered the threshold.
Highlighting the absence of a crisis management mechanism, “jingoistic” role of Indian media and its leadership’s mindset, he said, “Had there been no third party mediation, it would have gone to the next levels.”
The CJCSC mentioned the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkiye, China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the “interlocutors”.
