The threat of yet another war between India and Pakistan looms large following the military strikes carried out by the Indian Armed Forces inside Pakistan on Wednesday, May 7 and the heavy cross-border firing carried out by Pakistani forces in return. Pakistan has reported that at least 31 people have been killed by the Indian attacks, dubbed “Operation Sindoor” and dozens of others have been injured as per the media reports.
Immediately after the Indian strikes, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry released a statement calling Operation Sindoor a “blatant act of war.” The ministry claimed the Indian attacks “violated Pakistan’s sovereignty using standoff weapons, targeting civilian population across international borders” and vowed that Pakistan reserves the right to respond appropriately at a time and place of its choosing “in accordance with the article 51 of the UN charter, and as enshrined in international law.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) on May 7 which issued a similar condemnation of Indian attacks on civilians in the country, PTV reported.
“Attacking innocent people is neither tolerable nor acceptable to Pakistan. India, against all sanity and rationality, has once again ignited an inferno in the region, the responsibility for ensuing consequences shall lie squarely with India,” Pakistan’s NSC stated.
India has already asked all its states to organize mock drills for civilian safety in case of airstrikes amidst growing cross border firing from Pakistan. India claimed on Wednesday that its forces are ready for any imminent attack from Pakistan.
Civilians casualties contradict claims of limited operation
India’s armed forces, meanwhile, have tried to play down the attacks as a limited response to the Pahalgam attack on April 22 in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by armed men.
In a press conference on Wednesday morning, Indian officials claimed that no military establishments or facilities in Pakistan were targeted during the “precision attacks” which solely focused on locations used by the “terrorist groups.”
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah also reiterated the strikes were a response to the “brutal killings of innocent people in Pahalgam.”
Despite the claims of limited nature of the strikes, news reports from both countries count dozens of civilians killed and injured.
Indian media reported that at least nine civilians were killed and over 38 others were injured in the Pakistani firings from across the border in Kashmir. Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that 31 Pakistani citizens were killed and 57 others were injured in the Indian strikes on various locations inside Pakistan.
Anti-war voices from across the border
As the situation escalates drastically, world leaders and international institutions like the United Nations have issued statements calling for peace and diplomacy and expressing concern over the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan. Anti-war movements in the region have also reiterated appeals for peace.
“Clearly there are alarming signs of yet another Indo-Pak war looming large. All efforts must be made to prevent a war between the two nuclear-powered neighbors and explore the whole range of non-military diplomatic options to curb terrorism and deescalate tension,” said Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation in a statement.
Dr. Taimur Rahman, Pakistani intellectual and general secretary of the Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP) in Pakistan said in a video message on Wednesday that war does not serve common people in either of the countries. He underlined the need for diplomatic engagements between the countries.
“These nationalist wars serve only the ruling elites on both sides. They do not serve the poor. They do not serve the oppressed and the persecuted. For the working peoples of India and Pakistan, whose histories, languages, and struggles are shared, this war only brings death, homelessness, poverty, unemployment, inflation, and nothing else,” Rahman emphasized.
🇵🇰🇮🇳”For the working peoples of India and Pakistan, whose histories, languages, and struggles are shared, this war only brings death, homelessness, poverty, unemployment, inflation, and nothing else.”
Pakistani intellectual and political activist Dr. Taimur Rahman (@Taimur_Laal)… pic.twitter.com/wynubjnOp6
— Peoples Dispatch (@peoplesdispatch) May 7, 2025
The All India Cultural Resistance Campaign, Hum Dekehnge, said in a statement, “Let not hatred, fury or impulse overtake wisdom. War is no remedy-it is the collapse of diplomacy and the ruin of humanity.”
“War burns villages, silences joy, and leaves the children of both nations orphaned. The people of India and Pakistan are not enemies; they are kindred spirits, caught in the web of politics and propaganda. They share the same sky, the same songs, the same sorrow,” it added.
Meanwhile, the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) wrote, “We are alarmed by the growing belligerence and the latest strikes carried out by Indian defense forces. In a context where both India and Pakistan are nuclear armed nations, any escalation risks catastrophic consequences not just for the two countries, but for the entire South Asian region. The people of South Asia – already burdened with poverty, unemployment, environmental crises, and deepening inequalities – cannot afford the horrors of another war.”
The IPA declared that it “stands with the people of South Asia in their demand for peace, dignity, and justice. We call on peoples’ movements, trade unions, student organizations, and all democratic forces in India, Pakistan, and across the region to reject war, resist militarism, and raise the banner of solidarity and peace.”
The history of war in the region
Pakistan and India have a long history of hostile relations. Ever since the violent British-backed partition of the subcontinent into a majority-Muslim Pakistan and majority-Hindu India in 1947, the countries have fought at least three major wars and a minor one (1948, 1965, 1971 and 1999).
All wars between India and Pakistan were in some way related to the issue of Kashmir, a princely state before it merged with India in 1948 through a treaty of accession signed between the then Indian government and the ruler of Kashmir Raja Hari Singh.
Pakistan refused to accept the accession treaty on the basis of Kashmir’s demographic composition. Kashmir is a Muslim majority region and Pakistan claims as per the understandings during the partition of India that all Muslim majority provinces in the periphery belonged to it.
During the 1948 war, the matter went to the UN which called for a ceasefire and a plebiscite. The matter of plebiscite is still pending due to refusal of both the countries to withdraw their forces from Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Indian-administered Kashmir has witnessed an armed movement against Indian rule and for self-determination for the past several decades. India has accused Pakistan of being behind the “separatist movement” in Kashmir and armed attacks on civilians elsewhere in the country. It had launched several cross border strikes in the past to allegedly “dismantle the terrorist infrastructure” such as in 2016 and 2019. Under the ultra-nationalist, far-right Narendra Modi-led government such airstrikes have been celebrated as a sign of India’s supremacy over Pakistan.
Pakistan has in the past admitted supporting the separatist movement in Kashmir. However, it has always denied any direct links with the armed groups despite the fact that some of the leaders of those movements have taken shelter in the country.
In the wake of the Pahalgam attack, India once again accused Pakistan of being behind the attack, while Pakistan refuted any connection to the assailants and demanded India provide evidence to back up its allegations. It has also offered to carry out an investigation to establish the facts in the matter which the Indian government has yet to respond to.
As tensions remain high, many hope that the people of the region will not be subjected to another war.
