Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir refuted a senior Indian Army officer's claim that Islamabad received external support, particularly from China, during the four-day military conflict with India, saying such assertions are "factually incorrect".
He was reacting to Indian Army's Deputy Chief Lt Gen Rahul R. Singh's recent statement that Beijing provided active military support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, using the conflict as a “live lab” to test various weapon systems. Gen. Singh said while Pakistan was the "front face", with China extending all possible support to its all-weather ally, Turkiye was also playing a major role by supplying military hardware to Islamabad, adding that India was actually dealing with at least three adversaries during the conflict.
Addressing the graduating officers at the National Defence University Islamabad, Munir said, "Insinuations regarding external support in Pakistan's successful Operation Bunyanum Marsoos are irresponsible and factually incorrect and reflect a chronic reluctance to acknowledge indigenous capability and institutional resilience developed over decades of strategic prudence.”
Naming other states as participants in the purely bilateral military conflagration is also a shoddy attempt at playing camp politics, he claimed.
However, a few weeks ago, former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who was in the US to present Islamabad's version of the military conflict with India, had thanked Beijing for the “unequivocal support extended by China” during a meeting with China's Permanent Representative to the UN, Fu Cong.
Further, Munir issued a warning to India saying, "Any attempt to target our population centres, military bases, economic hubs and ports will instantly invoke a deeply hurting and more than reciprocal response."
