Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza on Saturday stressed the urgent need for inclusive, institutionalised crisis management frameworks throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, while also warning of the rising risks of conflict in South Asia, The News reported. He said this while delivering a comprehensive speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Gen Mirza said that the foundation of strategic stability must be laid through mutual identification of red lines, trust, and restraint \u2014 rather than domination or exclusion. He emphasised that “inclusion is not optional” with regard to regional security architectures, saying that “mechanisms cannot function in a vacuum of trust or amid systemic asymmetries.” The JCSC chairman made his comments at the renowned annual security forum, which brings together defence ministers, military chiefs, and security specialists from around the globe. General Mirza, speaking on behalf of Pakistan, emphasised that power struggles, a lack of communication, and the inability to settle long-standing conflicts are the main causes of the growing security risks facing South Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. Focusing on South Asia, Gen Mirza pointed to the region\u2019s \u201clooming threat of a global scale\u201d, referencing the unresolved Kashmir dispute, worsening India-Pakistan-China dynamics, and Afghanistan\u2019s persistent instability. He warned that nuclearisation has increased the risk of strategic miscalculation, and that functional communication channels are essential in the face of rising tensions. He criticised India\u2019s growing militarisation and its perceived emboldenment by Western support, stating that \u201cIndia\u2019s ambition to become a regional hegemon is disincentivising it to engage in conflict management options.\u201d Referring to the recent Pakistan-India crisis, Gen Mirza warned that the threshold for war between India and Pakistan has dangerously lowered, posing grave risks to the region\u2019s 1.5 billion people. He also raised alarm over India\u2019s actions targeting civilian areas and its threats to abrogate the Indus Waters Treaty, calling such moves \u201cexistential threats\u201d to Pakistan and potentially \u201cacts of war\u201d. \u201cPakistan has always preferred negotiated and diplomatic solutions,\u201d he said, while reaffirming Islamabad\u2019s position that peace with India must be based on mutual respect, sovereign equality and dignity. On the broader Asia-Pacific region, Gen Mirza described a trend of rising militarisation and great power contestation. He added that regional security continues to be shaped by extra-regional powers, with few organic structures in place to manage crises or mediate disputes. He warned that without local ownership, external security frameworks would lack credibility. \u201cMechanisms transplanted into this region from outside will not have local respect and recognition,\u201d he said. Yet, he expressed cautious optimism, acknowledging efforts underway in the Asia-Pacific to improve cooperation and communication. He urged regional states to \u201cmove beyond conflict management towards conflict resolution\u201d and to revitalise existing bilateral, regional and multilateral structures, rather than invent new ones. Gen Mirza offered a pointed critique of the global security environment, noting how \u201cpower and interests, not morality or principles, now reign supreme.\u201d He cited the erosion of values such as state sovereignty and international law, and warned that multilateralism is being replaced by \u201cmyopic mini-lateralism.\u201d Amid this backdrop, he stressed the need for institutionalised crisis protocols, pre-agreed deconfliction procedures and joint exercises to avoid miscalculation. The spread of emerging technologies such as AI and cyber tools, he said, is further shrinking the decision-making window and complicating deterrence dynamics. \u201cStrategic communication matters\u201d, Gen Mirza stressed, adding that \u201cmisconception, narrative warfare and information distortion are the oxygen for escalation.\u201d He also reiterated Pakistan\u2019s long-standing position on Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), calling for a resolution in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. He called it essential for ensuring lasting peace in South Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza on Saturday stressed the urgent need for inclusive, institutionalised crisis management frameworks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24859,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-updates"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}