Dr Attiq-ur-Rehman
The founding father of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azm Muhammad Ali Jinnah, described the ideological basis of Pakistan as the three key principles: Unity-Faith-Discipline, which the nation treats as the mainstream guiding roadmap for a prosperous and progressing future.
The three concepts symbolize the country’s national motto and its strategic manifestation into domestic affairs, where Unity refers to the formulation of a single nation beyond the challenging societal fragmentations, Faith explains the creation of the exceptional national beliefs aligning with the ideological orientations of the religion, and Discipline emphasizes an internally well-coordinated and well-structured state structure for the better progress.
The three foundational ideas emerged as the significant variables for state-building, strengthening the nation’s political and societal attributes. It further enables the country’s formal decision-making authorities to act responsibly in regional and international politics.
The quest to transform the three guiding principles into a robust and astute foreign policy framework focused Unity on forming a consensual agreement on the major external issues, especially those arising from the hostile South Asian regional security environment. It has reduced the likelihood of serious societal polarization on ethnic, ideological, and political grounds.
It has led the entire nation to provide unconditional support for the country’s mainstream foreign policy priorities. In this debate, the Indian hostility and the presently functioning Modi’s multilayered anti-Pakistan obsession can be treated as appropriate examples in which the Pakistani nation has consistently shown its decisive opposition, as evidenced by its unanimous stance against Indian regional belligerent behaviour.
It has also shown, throughout history, a persistent disagreement of Islamabad-based formal state authorities to the Indian offensive policies against the territorially adjoining nations, especially Pakistan.
The latest validation of this scenario can be found in the India-Pakistan military escalation in 2025, from Operation Sindoor to Operation Bunyan al Marsoos. It has unambiguously demonstrated the Unity of national effort and the exceptional public support for the country’s military command and political leadership in securing a conclusive victory against an aggressive neighbour.
It has communicated to the entire world the Islamabad-based leadership’s clear and consistent vision of ensuring civil-military harmony within the country while augmenting the national collective confidence and resilience against external threats. Under a comprehensive civil-military synchronization, an unprecedented public support to the armed forces of Pakistan made them an iron wall against India’s launched hybrid warfare operations under the nuclear shadows.
An extraordinary level of societal support for the armed forces raised the morale of soldiers and demonstrated the high level of patriotism across the country during the crisis. Furthermore, Faith plays a significant role in rationally aligning the Pakistan’s mainstream with the ideological clarity and cogent legitimacy of the religion.
The belief-driven promotion of the country’s foreign relations has always fostered dynamic diplomatic engagement with the outside world, rooted in specific ideational contexts. Faith can be treated as the operational symbolism of the spiritual edge on the battlefield, which has resulted in designing an appropriate response to New Delhi’s advanced anti-Pakistani aggression.
The defensive operation’s title, Bunyan al Marsoos, and the translation of its subsequent victory into Marka-e-Haq further confirmed the unquestionable association of Faith with the armed forces’ robust warfighting capabilities, grounded in their incomparable and fearless bravery.
Drawing on the history of the armed forces’ high moral standing, coupled with adequate warfighting capabilities, the recent confrontation in the kinetic domain explicitly invoked the slogan‘Allahu Akbar,’ framing its operational strikes as a spiritual struggle.
The result of this struggle translated the victory into a historical achievement beyond the probability of an unthinkable armed clash between two nuclear powers. It was firmly associated with the concept of divine help, originating from strong Faith and its adequate transition into commendable moral strength.
The positive outcomes of these religious beliefs on specific productive lines have been expressed by the country’s military and political leadership in various formal and informal public interactions. To prioritize the strong religious beliefs over the available power sources, the reliance on divine assistance has penetrated the general public as well, as observed in India-Pakistan during the recent crisis.
Thus, Faith has emerged as an essential part of Pakistan’s mainstream state structure, in which society is clearly and undeniably associated with the government’s leading defence policies and the efficacy of the armed forces in averting India’s armed aggression.
The construction of Faith on certain religious patterns has formed Pakistan’s mission of highlighting internationally the sufferings of Muslim Kashmiris living in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s opposition to the Indian occupational policies in Kashmir, while internationally highlighting the major human rights abuses in the IIOJK, is the prime factor aggravating an overt Indian antipathy towards Pakistan.
The logical comprehension of Unity and Faith cannot be divorced from the role of Discipline in connecting a consensual national stance with the spiritual motivation of the beliefs. It establishes an undeniable interconnection between the two concepts to ensure tangible battlefield outcomes from comprehensive warfighting plans. It convinced the central military command to rationally keep the 2025 crisis limited under the nuclear umbrella while supporting the broader themes of peace and stability in the regional complexities of South Asian security.
It was a multi-domain warfare initiated by India under the hawkish aspirations of the Modi government, but Pakistan’s calculated response reflected strategic maturity and national resolve, centred on a calibrated approach. Based on these narrations, it can logically be established that the incomparable combination of Unity-Faith-Discipline is not merely the conceptual formation of the Pakistani nation, but it has primarily emerged as the leading factor enabling the country’s armed forces to achieve decisive victories. It has communicated to the entire world that the country’s actual strength lies in a purposeful and controlled exercise of power by denying irresponsible reactions.
In this way, the crisis 2025 ended with the Marka-e-Haq, describing the victory in matchless defence against the Indian irrational behaviour. This reckless behaviour was rooted in Modi government’s miscalculations and misperceptions of regional security intensities, where the armed of Pakistan are always prepared with pragmatic and operational contingency plans. It demonstrates that South Asian deterrence is indispensable, mainly because of Pakistan’s existential confidence and strategic restraint.
The Marka-e-Haq served as the symbolic security against external threats, mainly initiated by India’s hostility, because the May 2025 victory has liberated the nation from the past traumas of the 1971 war. It has redefined history of a responsible Muslim nuclear power. It has been made clear to the entire world that the future of Pakistan is not only secure, but it is bright with dignity, high with pride, and eternal with generational memories.
The author is a Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, NUML, Islamabad. (arehman@numl.edu.pk). https://www.numl.edu.pk/faculty/446
