'No amount of jazba will save Pakistan': Ex-PAF official gives a reality check, says 'India has a force of 16 lakh...'

Masood Akhtar, a retired Air Marshal of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), on Saturday chose to give a reality check to the Pakistani public as the tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad continue to escalate. Akhtar said in an interview that no amount of jazba (passion) can save Pakistan, while highlighting the glaring differences between India and Pakistan's military strength.

Akhtar told Dawn News in an interview: "It has an army of 16 lakhs, and you have 6 lakhs. No amount of jazba (passion) will save us." He further said that India has a much larger force compared to Pakistan. "The political leadership's job is to look into the future. What has happened today should rattle all of us. It is a very difficult time for us, for which we have no answer as of now.

He further said that de-escalation seems improbable until America pressurises India to do so. "And I think that things are getting more and more tense because de-escalation will not happen like this until America puts pressure (on India)."

The retired Pakistani Air Marshal said that if America, China and Russia do not pressurise India, then the situation would be very dire for Pakistan.

Reality of Pakistan's military and its arsenal

Well, the retired Air Marshal's claims do not come without facts. Pakistan's military and aerial arsenal have proven to be broken beyond repair so far in its ongoing conflict with India.

In an incident, the Pakistan Army misfired a missile that missed its target and landed near a gurdwara in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch. Moreover, the Indian air defence system on May 10 morning intercepted and destroyed a Pakistani Fateh-1 missile over Haryana's Sirsa.

Not just India, the Pakistan Army is also faced with its fair share of challenges in Balochistan, Waziristan, and Sindh, with militants, insurgents and separatists not only protesting against Islamabad but also attacking Pakistani Army personnel.

At present, the Pakistani Armed Forces are surviving on Chinese-supplied scrap weapons and irregularities in the procurement of weapons.

India Pakistan tensions post Op Sindoor 

In the early hours of Saturday, India targeted three key air bases in Pakistan—Noor Khan in Rawalpindi, Murid in Chakwal, and Rafiqui in Shorkot—in response to ongoing ceasefire violations and the Pahalgam terror attacks.

Noor Khan is just 10 km from Islamabad and near the military GHQ, Murid functions as a drone warfare center, while Rafiqui hosts JF-17 and Mirage squadrons of the Pakistan Air Force.

The Pakistan government has intensified its missile attacks and border shelling against India, citing retaliation for the deaths of civilians on May 7—an assertion contradicted by Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Maulana Masood Azhar, who confirmed that ten family members of his group were killed.

In response, India launched Operation Sindoor, targeting over 100 terrorists linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen in precision strikes, which were applauded even by opposition parties for their measured approach to recent violence against tourists in Pahalgam.