Pak PM Sharif calls Indian missile strikes ‘act of war’, calls for National Security Council meeting

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on early Wednesday condemned the Indian missile strikes on terror targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Punjab province. Calling the attack an “act of war”, Shehbaz Sharif said his country has every right to give a “befitting reply.”

In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces carried out strikes at nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir early Wednesday.

The strikes targeted terrorist infrastructure, according to the Indian Army. These sites were allegedly used to plan and direct attacks against India, the defence ministry said in a statement.

Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the Indian strikes killed at least eight people and injured 35. The attacks hit cities in Punjab and PoK, Geo News reported.

What PM Sharif said 

According to PM Shehbaz Sharif, India carried out attacks at five places in Pakistan, warning that Islamabad knows how to deal with the enemy.

In a statement following the attack on Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif said, “Pakistan has every right to give a befitting reply to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given.”

“We will never let the enemy succeed in its nefarious objectives,” he added. The Pakistani prime minister also added that his armed forces “know very well how to deal with the enemy”.

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Pakistan has closed its airspace for all air traffic for 48 hours.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar termed the Indian strikes as a “flagrant violation” of Pakistan’s sovereignty, the UN Charter & international law.

"It has jeopardised regional peace,” he said in a statement on X.

What Pakistan military said

Following Indian forces' strike on targeted locations in Pakistan two weeks after the Pahalgam terror attack, Islamabad has said in a statement that it has shot down three Rafale planes, one SU-30 and one MIG-29 flown by India.

The Pakistani military spokesperson also said that Indian planes were shot down while they were in Indian airspace.

This comes a day after United Nations Security Council (UNSC) rebuked Islamabad over its “false flag” claims following the Pahalgam terror attack, as it raised concerns about the deliberate targeting of tourists ‘based on their religion’, news agency ANI quoted sources as saying.

Condemning the terror attack in Pahalgam and emphasising the need for accountability, the UNSC members expressed concerns over the recent missile tests and nuclear rhetoric by Pakistan, saying they were escalatory factors in the deteriorating relationship between New Delhi and Islamabad following the Pahalgam terror attack.