‘This Is the Limit of Tolerance’: India, Pakistan Clash at Shangri-La Dialogue After Operation Sindoor

By A Staff Reporter

Singapore — The diplomatic chill between India and Pakistan turned into a public war of words at the Shangri-La Dialogue this weekend, as top military leaders from both nations exchanged pointed remarks in the wake of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack and India’s retaliatory Operation Sindoor.

India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan delivered a firm message during a session on defence innovation, where he invoked the May 7–10 strikes that targeted nine terror bases across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. “What India has done, politically, is draw a new red line of intolerance against terror,” Chauhan said. “I hope this particular operation, which lies within the military domain, brings about some lessons for our adversary… this is the limit of India’s tolerance.”

He stressed that India has suffered through decades of cross-border terrorism and seeks to put an end to this proxy war. “We’ve lost a lot of people. We want to stop it once and for all,” he said, referencing the April 22 attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists.

Just meters away in a parallel session on regional crisis management, Pakistan’s top military official, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, responded with a stark warning. “Strategic stability is threatened by the lowering of thresholds,” Mirza said. “If cities are targeted and borders become irrelevant, the destruction could unfold before the international community even gets a chance to intervene.”