India, Pakistan mark truce anniversary
- Pakistan’s army used the first anniversary of the May 2025 India clash to warn any new Indian strike would get a “strong and immediate” reply. - The crisis began after 26 people were killed in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, then spiraled into four days of missile, drone, and artillery attacks. - The ceasefire still holds, but Kashmir is unresolved and both sides have hardened policy, not softened it.
A year after India and Pakistan came close to a much bigger war, the ceasefire is still alive. That is the good news. The bad news is that almost everything underneath it still looks brittle — the Kashmir dispute is unresolved, diplomacy is frozen, and both militaries are talking tougher, not softer. What changed this week is the anniversary itself: Pakistan’s military used it to warn India against any repeat strike, while India marked its own operation as proof of a new cross-border doctrine. (apnews.com) ### What are they marking? They are marking the four-day military clash that erupted in May 2025, the worst India-Pakistan confrontation in decades. The trigger was the April 22, 2025 attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, that killed 26 people. India blamed Pakistan-backed militants. Pakist(apnews.com)nistered Kashmir. Pakistan answered with its own operation, and the two sides traded missiles, drones, artillery fire, and airpower before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10. (channelnewsasia.com) ### What happened this week? Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, said any future Indian attack would be met with a “swift, resolute and notch-up response.” That was the clearest anniversary message from Islamabad: the truce is holding, but deterrence comes first. In(channelnewsasia.com) fair game if New Delhi decides to act again. (apnews.com) ### Why does the ceasefire still look fragile? Because the ceasefire stopped the shooting, not the dispute. Relations remain downgraded. Trade and visas never really recovered. India also suspended the Indus Waters Treaty after the 2025 attack, and Pakistan put a post-1971 peace framework on hold. So the basic machinery that normally absorbs shocks is weaker than it was before the crisis. (channelnewsasia.com) ### What changed in India’s strategy? India seems to have turned the 2025 clash into a doctrine. The message is simple: a militant attack traced to Pakistan will not just produce diplomatic protest — it can trigger direct military action across the border. That raises the thresh(channelnewsasia.com)liation sooner. (channelnewsasia.com) ### Why is Kashmir still the core problem? Because every “pause” keeps running into the same wall. Kashmir is the territory both countries claim, the place where militant attacks and border firing can quickly spiral, and the issue neither side is politically willing to soften on. The truce contains the conflict. It does not solve the argument that keeps recreating it. (channelnewsasia.com) ### So is this peace? Not really. It is more like armed restraint. The line from both capitals is basically this: we do not want a full war, but we also want the other side to believe the next strike will cost more. That can hold for a while. But it is a bad foundation for long-term stability between two nuclear-armed neighbors. (apnews.com) ### What should readers watch next? Watch for three things — another militant attack in Kashmir, any movement on water or diplomatic ties, and whether outside mediation returns in the next crisis. If none of that changes, the anniversary message is pretty stark: the guns are quieter than they were in May 2025, but the logic that produced the clash is still sitting there, intact. (channelnewsasia.com)
