Indian Council of World Affairs

Pakistan in the last seven decades has written many stories of war and victories, building a narrative of a fictional Pakistan, surviving on the might and strength of the Pakistani Army or the military establishment. The recent story that has been written was titled ‘Operation Bunyanum Marsoos’,[i] and was such a similar example. It narrated a story (re-writing defeats as victories) of an army that fought a fictional war to defend Pakistan against an aggressor, standing strong as a wall, charting the nation to victory. For every war that Pakistan has fought with India, a new delusional narrative has emerged, portraying the fictional valour and victories of the Pakistani Army for the people of Pakistan, whether in 1948, 1965, 1971, or 1999. This paper writes about such stories and the present fiction that has been written by the Pakistani Army to appease the Pakistani masses and to ensure its hold on the Pakistani society. 

History of Stories Narrated in the Past 

Pakistan, a nation that was created from an idea, a nation without a history, legacy, identity or a common heritage, had to bank on forged narratives. All the stories that were narrated were imaginary, false or fictional. Building an identity on Islam and a migrant-imposed language, Urdu, the very genesis of Pakistan was based on storytelling. Narrating four wars that it instigated in the past, as per the Pakistani Army, each time, a peace-loving country was attacked by a hostile neighbour, and Pakistan was able to defeat the enemy, charting new paths of victory. These fictional stories and narratives have been etched in Pakistan’s national identity, as even the Pakistani National Day celebration on the 6th of September each year. This day in 1965, the Indian Army had attacked Lahore in retaliation for the Pakistani attack on 5^th August 1965, under the garb of carrying out Operation Gibraltar, a war in which Pakistan had lost 43 PAF combat aircraft, 123 tanks due to air attacks and 5,800 Pakistani troops. On the contrary, India occupied 1,920 sq. km of Pakistani territory, including 700 sq. km in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the northern areas of Jammu and Kashmir.[ii] India returned back most of the occupied territory after signing the Tashkent Agreement in January 1966. However, Pakistan rewrote history, declaring 6 September as Victory Day, later renaming it as Army Day and now celebrating it as Pakistan’s National Day. They also claim victory in the 1971 war, where they lost East Pakistan, surrendering to the Indian Army, giving birth to Bangladesh. 

The Story of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos 

As mentioned before, the operation was termed as Bunyanum Marsoos, an Arabic term meaning ‘Unbreakable Wall’. It was an offensive military operation in retaliation to Indian air strikes taking down terrorist headquarters, camps and launching pads situated in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Pakistani province of Punjab in retaliation to the brutal and inhuman terrorist attacks in Pahalgam carried out by a Pakistani terrorist group, The Resistance Front, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Toiba. 

Instead of narrating the action carried out by the Indian defence forces in retaliation to Pakistani attempts at striking civilian and military targets in India, these are the fictional and delusional stories of successful attacks that were fed to the Pakistani masses by the Pakistani civil and military establishment. 

Some of the imaginary stories that were narrated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, DG, ISPR and the Pakistani media are as follows:

• Pakistan used GPS jamming technology to bring down Indian drones that were targeting civilian areas.[iii] DG ISPR stated that during Indian attacks, some infrastructure was damaged and one aircraft suffered minor impairment, which will be operational soon.[iv]
• PM Sharif said that the Pakistan Air Force had downed several Indian fighter jets, including Rafale fighter jets, stating that Pakistan had “taken revenge for the 1971 war…If you attack us again, you will lose everything”.[v] Punjab Chief Minister posted on social media: “Alhamdulillah, Pakistan has emerged victorious. Congratulations to the nation on this triumph”.[vi]
• Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that “several” posts of the Indian army across the Line of Control had been destroyed by the armed forces and downed five Indian fighter jets.[vii]
• As per Pakistani state media, India’s 70 per cent power grid was made inoperative through cyber-attack, and the S-400 system was destroyed by PAF’s JF-17’s using hypersonic missiles in Adampur airbase, destroying India’s military training centre in Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir,[viii] the Brigade Headquarters at KG Top, the Field Supply Depot in Uri, an Artillery Gun Position in Derangyari, the BrahMos battery site in Nagrota, the Brahmos storage site in Beas, the Akhnoor aviation base and the airbases at Adampur, Udhampur, Pathankot, Suratgarh, Sirsa, Bathinda and Halwara airfields[ix], all sites which has and still remain operational.

All the claims that were made above had no visual evidence, no primary documents, no satellite imagery, no verifiable third-party sources and no citation from any international media. Even the defence minister in a media interview stated that the information he had of the downing of Indian fighter jets was based on social media reports.[x]

After making such overzealous claims, PM Sharif declared Youm-e-Tashakur (Thanksgiving Day) or Victory Day on 16 May 2025 that was celebrated throughout Pakistan. It was to celebrate victory over India after completing Bunyanum Marsoos, which, according to him, was a tremendous success.[xi] The celebration was held at the Pakistan National Monument in Islamabad and was attended by PM Sharif, chief of armed forces, and other civil and military leaders, who had fiery speeches of stories and fictions of war, a flypast and national songs. As the civil military weaves out such fairytales of war to the Pakistani masses, the people strive to live a normal life in a fledgling economy. 

As the general weakness and capabilities of the military establishment in war and combat, over and over again, has been in full display for the last seven decades, the Pakistan Army has and continues to weave such narratives based on wild imagination, fiction and delusion, while continuing to support and sponsor terrorism as a state policy to cover its weaknesses.

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*Dr. Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee, Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal.

Endnotes

[i] The term Bunyan-un-Marsoos is an Arabic term meaning “Unbreakable Wall”. In verse 61:4 of the Surah Al-Saff of the Holy Quran it has been stated that “Surely Allah loves those who fight in His cause in solid ranks as if they were one unbreakable wall (bunyan al-marsus).”

[ii] BD Sharma, “White Lies of Pakistan Regarding 1965 War”, August 22, 2020, Indian Defence Review, https://indiandefencereview.com/white-lies-of-pakistan-regarding-1965-war/ accessed on May 19, 2025; RD Pradhan, Debacle to Revival: YB Chavan as Defence Minister, 1962 – 1965 (New Delhi, Orient Longman Limited, 1998), pp. 261, 299-300

[iii] “Pak-India Tensions: Operation Bunyan ul Marsoos 2025”, ARY News, May 12, 2025, https://arynews.tv/india-attacks-pakistan-after-pahalgam-may-7-2025/ accessed on May 20, 2025

[iv] “Pak-India Tensions: Operation Bunyan ul Marsoos 2025”, ARY News, May 12, 2025, https://arynews.tv/india-attacks-pakistan-after-pahalgam-may-7-2025/ accessed on May 20, 2025

[v] “Pakistan invites India for ‘comprehensive dialogue’ on Kashmir”, Dawn, May 15, 2025, https://www.dawn.com/news/1911132/pakistan-invites-india-for-comprehensive-dialogue-on-kashmir accessed on May 20, 2025

[vi] Pakistan emerges with its head held high: Nawaz Sharif, Dunya News, May 10, 2025, https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/883280 accessed on May 20, 2025

[vii] “Pakistan downs 5 Indian jets as retaliation for late-night strikes at 6 sites: officials”, Dawn, May 6, 2025, https://www.dawn.com/news/1908824 accessed on May 20, 2025

[viii] List of Indian sites reportedly hit by Pakistan so far, The Daily Star, May 10, 2025, https://www.thedailystar.net/news/world/india-pakistan-conflict/news/list-indian-sites-reportedly-hit-pakistan-so-far-3891081 accessed on May 20, 2025

[ix] Storage Facility; Launches Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos; India Hits Back Hard, Eurasian Times, May 10, 2025, https://www.eurasiantimes.com/pakistan-claims-hitting-indian-brahmos-storage/ accessed on May 20, 2025; Pakistan ‘rattles’ India with firm response as patience runs out, Dawn, May 11, 2025, https://www.dawn.com/news/1910186 accessed on May 20, 2025

[x] “It’s all over social media”: Pakistan Defence Minister fails to justify claim of downing Indian jets, DD News, May 8, 2025, https://ddnews.gov.in/en/its-all-over-social-media-pakistan-defence-minister-fails-to-justify-claim-of-downing-indian-jets/ accessed on May 20, 2025

[xi] We won the war but seek peace: PM Shehbaz invites India to live as ‘peaceful neighbour’, Dawn, May 16, 2025, https://www.dawn.com/news/1911376/youm-i-tashakur-observed-across-country-to-honour-armed-forces accessed on May 20, 2025