‘India’s tolerance has limits’: India and Pakistan generals trade warnings at global defence summit over terror, Kashmir

Senior military leaders from India and Pakistan exchanged sharp remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend, highlighting growing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan and Pakistan’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza addressed separate sessions at the global security summit, which ran from Friday to Sunday.

Their statements came just weeks after India launched Operation Sindoor, a military response to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which left 26 people dead. New Delhi has blamed Pakistan-based groups for the assault, a claim Islamabad denies.

India signals new line of defence

Referring to Operation Sindoor, General Chauhan said India had drawn a clear line against terrorism. “What India has done, politically, they have drawn a new red line of intolerance against terror,” he said.

“I hope this particular operation, it is basically lying in military domain, that should bring about some lessons for our adversary also, and hopefully they learn that this is a limit of India’s tolerance,” he added.

Chauhan also mentioned the long-standing issue of cross-border terrorism. “We have been subjected to this proxy war of terror for almost two decades and more, and we lost lot of people… we want to put an end to it.”

Pakistan warns of lowered war threshold

General Mirza, speaking at a panel on regional crisis management, argued for moving away from managing tensions to resolving them altogether. “It has become imperative to move beyond conflict management towards conflict resolution. This will ensure sustainable peace and assured crisis management,” he said.

He warned that the absence of such a framework could lead to devastating consequences. “Given the Indian policies… 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 probably be too late to avoid damage and destruction.”

Kashmir issue resurfaces

Mirza placed heavy emphasis on Kashmir, calling it the central dispute between the two countries. “When there is no crisis, Kashmir is never discussed… the core that resides between Pakistan and India is Kashmir.”

He added, “An early resolution of Kashmir (issue) in line with the UN Security Council resolutions and as per the aspirations of the people is essential.”

Concern over rising instability

Mirza expressed concern that the military standoff had lowered the threshold for war. “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,” he said.

He claimed the West’s support for India as a regional security provider was discouraging dialogue. “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.”

He further warned, “The threshold of what we say conventional warfare has significantly degraded.”

Operation Sindoor: India’s military response

Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7 to target nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The operation was a direct response to the Pahalgam attack and involved a series of strikes over four days.

The military exchanges ended on May 10 after an understanding was reached to halt further action. Mirza said that countries like the US, UK, China, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and the UAE acted as intermediaries during this period.