Overview

• A late-April terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir prompted India’s Operation Sindoor on May 7, triggering missile, drone and artillery exchanges with Pakistan until a ceasefire held on May 10.
• The DIA report warns Pakistan is modernising its nuclear arsenal and developing battlefield weapons with materials almost certainly supplied by China via Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey and the UAE.
• Pakistan’s military priorities include managing cross-border skirmishes, counterterrorism operations against Taliban and Baloch militants, and continued nuclear modernisation to offset India’s conventional advantage.
• India views China as its primary adversary and is advancing bilateral defence partnerships in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific to counter Beijing and bolster its global leadership role.
• The report cautions that without sustained dialogue and with unresolved border tensions along the Line of Actual Control, expanding capabilities on both sides pose a high risk of renewed escalation in South Asia.