Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif fired back at India during his speech at the UN General Assembly on Friday, accusing New Delhi of twisting the deadly Pahalgam attack for political points while staying silent on Pakistan’s own ties to cross-border terrorism.
Sharif recounted the tense May clash between the two nations, claiming India launched unprovoked strikes on Pakistani cities and innocent civilians. “In May this year, my country confronted unprovoked aggression from our eastern front,” he said. “The enemy came shrouded in arrogance, and we sent them back in humiliation.” He rejected his earlier offer for an independent probe into the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, insisting Pakistan’s armed forces acted purely in self-defense under UN rules.
Sharif doubled down on a familiar claim, boasting that Pakistan’s military shot down seven Indian fighter jets during the skirmish. “Our valiant armed forces mounted an operation of stunning professionalism, repulsing the enemy attack,” he added. “Our falcons took flight and etched their answer across the skies, resulting in seven of the Indian jets turning to scrap and dust.”
But Sharif skipped key details from India’s side. The Pahalgam attack, blamed on militants backed by groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, prompted India to launch Operation Sindoor on May 7. Indian forces targeted nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, aiming to dismantle launchpads for cross-border attacks. Officials said the strikes killed over 100 terrorists without hitting Pakistani military sites.
India has repeatedly called Pakistan’s jet-down claims baseless. Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh and other leaders confirmed that Indian pilots actually downed Pakistani aircraft instead. Pakistan hasn’t shared solid proof, and New Delhi dismissed the assertions as empty talk.
The four-day India-Pakistan conflict, marked by drone and missile exchanges, wrapped up on May 10 with a ceasefire agreement. Unlike Sharif’s unbacked statements, India backed its actions with detailed press briefings from top officials like Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. They shared satellite images and explained the “focused, measured, and non-escalatory” response, warning that any attacks on Indian military targets would face retaliation.
This latest round of accusations highlights ongoing tensions in the India-Pakistan rivalry, rooted in disputes over Kashmir and accusations of state-sponsored terrorism.
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