By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif authorised retaliatory military strikes against India on Wednesday, hours after an unprovoked cross-border assault killed at least 26 civilians in overnight airstrikes — a dramatic escalation that marks the most severe military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in over two decades.
India said it targeted nine Pakistani sites linked to “terrorist infrastructure” allegedly used to plan an April 22 assault in Pahalgam, a hill station in occupied Kashmir where 26 people were killed. Pakistan had denied involvement in the attack and Prime Minister Sharif had offered to be part of any credible and transparent international investigation.
The strikes, launched on the night of May 6-7, targeted multiple locations across Pakistan, including Sialkot, Shakargarh, Muridke, and Bahawalpur in Punjab, as well as Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Kashmir.
Pakistan said the attacks hit civilian areas, killing innocent men, women, and children and damaging infrastructure, including mosques. Pakistan’s military response was swift. The armed forces shot down five Indian fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles. The Indian strikes, however, deepened a volatile stalemate between the neighbors, who have fought three wars since 1947, two over Kashmir, a Himalayan territory both claim in full.
The South Asian neighbors on Wednesday also exchanged intense shelling and heavy gunfire across much of their de facto border called the Line of Control, which divides disputed Kashmir between them.
The shelling across the frontier in Kashmir killed 10 civilians and injured 48 in the Indian part of the region, police there told media. At least six people were killed on the Pakistani side, Reuters reported, quoting officials.
The National Security Committee (NSC) convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday under Prime Minister Sharif to denounce what it called India’s cowardly and unlawful act of war following a series of overnight military strikes on Pakistani territory.
“In consonance with Article-51 of the UN Charter, Pakistan reserves the right to respond, in self-defence, at a time, place, and manner of its choosing to avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty,” the NSC said in a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office. “The Armed Forces of Pakistan have duly been authorized to undertake corresponding actions in this regard.”
The NSC accused Indian forces of launching coordinated missile, air, and drone strikes targeting civilian infrastructure and populated areas.
“India’s act of aggression deliberately targeted innocent men, women, and children on the false pretext of imaginary terrorist camps,” the NSC said in a sharply worded statement.
It condemned the strikes as “blatant violations of Pakistan’s sovereignty” and violations of international law, accusing India of endangering commercial flights from Gulf nations and damaging the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project.
The committee dismissed India’s claims about militant bases as baseless, noting international media had visited the alleged sites on May 6, with further visits planned.
“Apprehensive of its falsehood being exposed, and without a shred of evidence about its claims, the Indian leadership, bereft of any morality, has now gone to the extent of attacking innocent civilians in order to satiate its delusional thoughts and short-sighted political objectives,” the statement said. “Attacking its innocent people is neither tolerable nor acceptable to Pakistan. India, against all sanity and rationality has once again ignited an inferno in the region, the responsibility for ensuing consequences shall lie squarely with India.”
The committee extended condolences to families of the dead and praised Pakistan’s armed forces for their “bravery and courage” in repelling the strikes.
“The entire Pakistani nation greatly appreciates and admires the bravery and courage of the Armed Forces and their timely action in the defense of their motherland. The nation stands galvanized and resolute in the face of any further aggression.”
The NSC warned India would bear “responsibility for ensuing consequences” and urged the international community to hold New Delhi accountable for “blatant violations of international norms.”
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