Rawalpindi — Pakistan’s top soldier, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, didn’t mince words this week. Behind closed doors at Joint Staff Headquarters, the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee warned senior officers that India, in his view, is flirting with a “strategic miscalculation.”
One participant, speaking later on background, summed up the general’s mood in a single line: “He thinks one bad decision across the border could drag everyone into a mess we can’t rapidly unwind.”
Why the sudden alarm?
It wasn’t a single incident, officers say, but a steady trickle:
- more Indian armour visible near forward locations;
- fresh talk in New Delhi about “surgical options”;
- a spike in small-arms fire along the Line of Control that field commanders here insist they can document.
Put together, the CJCSC believes those moves spell risk. “When politics squeezes the generals on that side, they sometimes reach for theatrics,” the source quoted him. “That’s when accidents become policy.”
Not sabre-rattling, aides insist
In Rawalpindi the message was couched in caution, not bravado. Gen Mirza, officers say, urged preparedness but also restraint — the classic twin-track: keep powder dry, keep channels open.
A former foreign-office hand, reached by phone, read the statement as a signal to big capitals — Washington, Beijing, even Riyadh — that South Asia still needs adult supervision.
“Look, the world is busy elsewhere,” he said. “Pakistan just tapped the glass to remind everyone this front can heat up fast.”
Echoes of 2019
Veteran reporters heard shades of the 2019 Balakot episode, when one mis-read radar blip nearly led to escalation. “Mirza’s basically saying: remember that week? Don’t assume we’re past it,” a senior defence correspondent noted.
What happens now?
- Diplomatic desks in Islamabad have begun discreet outreach, sounding out partners about lowering the temperature.
- Corps commanders are, according to one insider, “reviewing readiness — nothing theatrical, just box-ticking.”
- Public messaging remains muted. There was no fiery press note, only brief pointers leaked to media.
New Delhi hasn’t answered publicly. It may not. Indian analysts, though, have already dismissed the warning as routine. That, oddly, is what worries Pakistani planners: routine is how crises sneak up.
The fine line
Pakistan, Mirza stressed, “doesn’t chase conflict.” Yet his follow-up carried weight: “We’ll meet any adventure, on any axis.” In army parlance, that’s the polite form of raising a shield.
For ordinary citizens the exchange is distant noise — fuel prices, not foreign policy, dominate chai-stall talk. Still, everyone remembers Kargil, Balakot, and the long nights that follow breaking news alerts. Another shopkeeper near Saddar put it simply: “We pray the hotheads stay cool.”
Bottom line
The CJCSC didn’t announce troops on the march; he sounded an alarm bell. Whether anyone across the border — or farther afield — hears it in time remains the open question.
