Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, the top military leadership of the two countries exchanged their views and issued warnings at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, billed as Asia's premier defence forum.
While India accused Pakistan-based terror groups of carrying out a deadly attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in April, Pakistan denied any involvement and called for a resolution to the Kashmir issue.
Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, speaking of Operation Sindoor, said, "What India has done, politically, they have drawn a new red line of intolerance against terror. I hope, this particular operation, it's basically lying in the 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."
"We have been subjected to this proxy war of terror for almost two decades and more, and we lost a lot of people...we want to put an end to it," he said.
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Meanwhile, Pakistan's top military General highlighted the need to move towards conflict resolution and warned that if this is not done, it could lead to a destructive escalation.
General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), during a panel discussion, titled 'Regional Crisis-Management Mechanisms', said, "It has become imperative to move beyond conflict management towards conflict resolution. This will ensure sustainable peace and assured crisis management."
He called for an early resolution of the Kashmir issue in line with the UN Security Council resolutions and as per the aspirations of the people.
"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," he said.
In an apparent reference to the Kashmir issue, General Mirza said, "Crisis prevention is better than crisis fighting. Suppressed disputes, whether territorial or ideological, cannot be indefinitely managed."
He said the recent military confrontation between India and Pakistan had underscored how regional crisis management frameworks remain hostage to the belligerence of countries.
General Mirza said 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.
He claimed 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," General Mirza added.