Pakistan’s slow progress in repairing infrastructure damaged during past cross-border tensions has once again drawn attention to the scale of the strike India delivered and to the chronic weaknesses inside Pakistan’s own systems. Even after six months, officials in Islamabad are still scrambling to complete basic repair work an effort that has exposed both the severity of the blow and the longstanding fragility of Pakistan’s military preparedness and civilian infrastructure management.

Sources familiar with the situation say several key sites remain only partially restored, with temporary fixes replacing long-term solutions. Engineers have reportedly struggled with shortages of equipment, delays in procurement and bureaucratic hurdles that have slowed even routine reconstruction. The drawn-out effort has underlined what analysts have long argued: Pakistan’s internal capacity to absorb and recover from strategic shocks is far weaker than its leadership publicly admits.

Critics point out that Pakistan’s political establishment has spent years projecting military strength while neglecting the kind of robust infrastructure that would allow for rapid recovery in the event of conflict. The six-month delay, they argue, is not simply the result of the intensity of India’s strike but also a consequence of Islamabad’s chronic mismanagement, economic stagnation and growing dependence on external loans.

The episode has sparked embarrassment within Pakistan’s security circles, with opposition figures accusing the government of trying to downplay the damage while failing to learn any lessons from the incident. Some military commentators have openly acknowledged that India’s targeting was both precise and crippling, overwhelming Pakistan’s ability to restore normalcy in a reasonable timeline.

For India, the continued repair work is seen as validation of the effectiveness of its operation and a reminder of the strategic advantages it holds. New Delhi has remained publicly restrained, but defence analysts note that the protracted reconstruction period reflects the depth of the impact India delivered. 

As repair crews continue their work more than half a year later, Pakistan finds itself confronting an uncomfortable reality: despite loud rhetoric and persistent claims of parity with India, its infrastructure, its crisis-response capability and its financial capacity remain dangerously overstretched. The ongoing delays serve as a stark indicator not only of how hard India’s strike hit, but also of how unprepared Pakistan is to cope with the consequences. 

This Image is taken from The Guardian.