On April 25, Pakistan’s Senate passed a unanimous resolution against India following the April 22 Pahalgam attack. The resolution, which asked New Delhi to not blame Pakistan for the militant raid in Indian-administered Kashmir, was spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Senator Sherry Rehman, senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the two parties leading the government coalition in the center.
The Senate resolution came a day after the National Security Committee (NSC), featuring the civil and military leadership of the country, announced it would end bilateral trade and close airspace for India, in response to New Delhi’s own measures last week, spearheaded by the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). For the ruling alliance in Pakistan – whether the PML-N and PPP coalition government, or the hybrid regime continuing military control over the civilian rulers – the Pahalgam attack has provided an opportunity to shroud the growing cracks with a vociferous show of unity.
The faultlines, however, were evident in The Diplomat’s conversations with members of the government. Leaders of the two major parties not only underscored their reservations with one another, but also reiterated the extent of the military’s stranglehold over the regime. While there has largely been acceptance within the civilian ranks that this status quo will persist, the clashes with India have opened a can of worms owing to the resurfacing of the allegations that Pakistan is backing jihadists at a time the West is increasingly cracking down on radical Islamism.
Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir’s speech days before the Pahalgam raid, underscoring the Two Nation Theory and the historic animosity against Hindus, is being cited as a specimen of the ideological rationale underpinning radical Islamist violence in the subcontinent.
“It is easy to link religiously charged statements with such attacks. It puts us in a difficult position in front of the world,” a senior PML-N leader told The Diplomat on condition of anonymity. That difficult position was evident when Defense Minister Khawaja Asif admitted to doing the “dirty work” of backing jihadist outfits in the past in an interview with Sky News.
Concern over the fallout, however, hasn’t stopped Pakistan from echoing Munir’s words even in official communication, with the NSC statement on April 24 asserting that the Two Nation Theory stands “vindicated.”
While the PML-N leadership concedes in private conversations that they have little choice but to acquiesce to the military’s narrative, the party has regularly clashed with the army over regional security policy. In 2016, leading English newspaper Dawn reported that the then PML-N government had asked the military to act against jihadist outfits “or face international isolation.” Then Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid was asked to step down, allegedly for leaking the news.
Today, Rashid presents a picture of unity – not just between the civil and military leaders, but also among the political parties.
“When the matter is the security and integrity of Pakistan, everyone is united, and there can be no differences between us,” Rashid told The Diplomat. While he reaffirmed the support of the allied PPP, Rashid also said that even the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which continues to clash with the army over its targeting of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, is on board when it comes to matters of national security. “They are not anti-Pakistan or Indian agents that they would not stand with the Pakistan Army at this critical point,” he said.
Both the PML-N and PPP have regularly accused Khan of being a “foreign agent” in recent years.
The escalation of the conflict with New Delhi has pushed the PTI leadership to shelve its agitation, with top PTI voices joining the government in its condemnation of India. While the ruling coalition believes the clashes with India would further weaken the PTI’s agitation, those in favor of reconciliation with the army suggest that the conflict is in fact the ideal opening to build bridges and bank on the party’s popularity among the masses to return to power in the next election.
PTI leader Taimur Jhagra said that it is “unclear” what stance the party takes with regards to domestic politics, even as it is denouncing India’s steps against Pakistan.
Among the PPP ranks, meanwhile, there is a belief that recent events have worked out in the party’s favor domestically. “The Kashmir cause is one that the People’s Party has always advocated regardless of who is in power. When it comes to Indian aggression, the party’s position has always been loud and clear,” PPP Information Secretary Nadeem Afzal Chan told The Diplomat. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on April 27 addressed India’s suspension of the IWT by saying: “Either our water will flow through it [the Indus River], or their blood.”
In the past Bhutto Zardari and Imran Khan have both accused the PML-N and its supremo Nawaz Sharif of being “Modi ka yaar” or a friend of Indian premier Narendra Modi, owing in part to Sharif’s regular overtures toward New Delhi.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (right) and Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari give a press statement after the prime minister’s meeting with a PPP delegation, Islamabad, Pakistan, Apr. 24, 2025. Photo via PMO, Pakistan.
Historically Pakistan’s two largest parties, and staunch rivals, the PML-N and the PPP have recently joined forces owing to the escalating popularity of the PTI since Khan’s ouster in 2022. The PPP helped the PML-N form government last year, but the partnership remains fragile and the PPP has intermittently threatened to leave the government since then.
In recent months the two parties have clashed over plans to build canals on the Indus River in Punjab. The PPP, which heads the government in Sindh, maintains that the canals would cause major water shortage in the province, reiterating historic allegations of water theft against Punjab, which is under PML-N-led rule.
PML-N insiders say that the PPP is looking to use an array of issues in order to get its demands accepted at the center, with some claiming that the upcoming fiscal budget announcement is a focus of the Bhutto Zardari-led party. The PPP’s decision not to join the federal cabinet last year allows the party the flexibility to play the government and the opposition depending on its interests. Some PML-N leaders suggest that their ally in the center is also keeping the door open for a potential partnership with the PTI.
However, the PML-N believes that given the regional situation, the PPP should not endanger the future of the ruling alliance. “What is the PPP going to say now, that they do not stand with the government at a time when the country is at war with India?” said the PML-N’s Pervaiz Rashid.
In a press conference addressed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bhutto Zardari on Thursday, it was announced that no canals would be built on the Indus River for the time being. It was also confirmed that the matter would be formally addressed by the Council of Common Interests and that any decision on the canals would be taken with due consensus. While both parties are expected to sustain a united front as long as the possibility of all-out war with India looms, water might end up being a long-drawn trigger that could be a source of turbulence for Pakistan, both regionally and domestically.
“I don’t think India will block Pakistan’s share [of the Indus waters], but any hint of an action with regards to water resources can lead to internal conflict, given how critical agriculture is for Pakistan,” said former Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri. “The situation is extremely sensitive for the people of Punjab, especially the farmers of Punjab. They know that any disruption in water can lead to conflict and bloodshed.”
Even as the PML-N and PPP suggest that the canal dispute has been addressed, the fate of the ruling alliance remains clouded. The PML-N leaders are wary of the leverage the PPP has with regards to sustaining the government, which now faces multipronged pressure from the military leadership, the PTI-led opposition, and India, which is looking to internationalize Pakistan’s shortcomings.
“India is trying to exploit our issues because it is Pakistan’s enemy. It depends on us and whether or not we continue to have internal issues that can be exploited,” said the PPP’s Nadeem Chan.
When asked if the coalition with the PML-N would remain, the PPP spokesperson was noncommittal. “I don’t know about the future of the alliance. That’s the thing with crises, they inevitably offer opportunities,” he said.
And where opportunities grow for the PPP to get more out of the PML-N, possibilities also emerge for the PTI to challenge both the parties in the ruling alliance. The PTI could once again offer itself as the civilian front of the military establishment, whose security policies are now under a regional, and global, spotlight.