Operation Sindoor: Pakistan's Dy PM Ishaq Dar finally admits they asked for ceasefire after India struck Nur Khan & other key airbases
Synopsis Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed that Islamabad requested a ceasefire after India struck key airbases during Operation Sindoor—a response to the Pahalgam terror attack. India's swift action caught Pakistan off guard. Dar's admission contradicts earlier claims of a strong Pakistani response. Saudi mediation followed within 45 minutes, highlighting the urgency Islamabad showed to halt further Indian strikes. Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has confirmed that Islamabad requested a ceasefire from New Delhi after India targeted the Nur Khan and other key air bases during Operation Sindoor, a retaliatory strike following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.
ADVERTISEMENT India attacked the Nur Khan and Shorkot airbases on the intervening night of May 6 and 7. Dar disclosed that the strikes took place while Pakistan was still getting ready to respond, suggesting that India moved first and took them by surprise.
Within 45 minutes of the strike, Saudi Prince Faisal offered to speak to the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on behalf of Pakistan's deputy PM, seeking to halt further action against Pakistan.
ALSO READ: Shehbaz Sharif admits Pakistan caught unawares by Brahmos missile
Dar's remarks suggest that Pakistan urgently sought support to convince India to stop its limited and targeted military operation, which was described as 'precise, measured and non-escalatory.'His confession stands in contrast to earlier statements by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior Pakistani officials, who had asserted that Pakistan had delivered a strong response to India.
ADVERTISEMENT Prime Minister Sharif himself had also recently acknowledged that India conducted BrahMos missile strikes on multiple locations, including the Rawalpindi airport.Pakistan air force Base Nur Khan, situated in Chaklala, Rawalpindi is around 10km from Islamabad, Pakistan capital. It is an active airbase that encompasses the former Benazir Bhutto International Airport within its grounds.
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ALSO READ: Pakistan's AWACS destroyed in India's BrahMos strikes, admits ex-Air Marshal: 'missiles kept on coming'
The facility, originally established as RAF Station Chaklala and later known as PAF Base Chaklala, continues to serve as a vital military installation in Pakistan.
ADVERTISEMENT The base is also home to PAF College Chaklala, which trains Aviation Cadets, and Fazaia Inter College Nur Khan, providing additional educational facilities on the premises.Imtiaz Gul, a defence analyst, claimed that the strategically important Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi is 'under American control.'Pakistan air force base Rafiqui, situated near Shorkot in Jhang District, is a major military installation located 337 kilometers south of Islamabad. The base features a 10,000-foot runway with a parallel taxiway that serves as an emergency landing strip.
ADVERTISEMENT The airbase was previously known as PAF Base Shorkot before being renamed after Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui, a fighter pilot from the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
ALSO READ: Operation Sindoor: How BrahMos strikes and precision airstrikes became turning points in the standoff The base's infrastructure includes a primary runway and an emergency taxiway system that allows for aircraft recovery operations when needed.Operation Sindoor was India's swift, calculated tri‑service cross-border assault on the dead night of May 6 and 7, targeting nine terror camps deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan‑occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the brutal April 22 Pahalgam massacre that claimed 26 innocent lives.Within 25 minutes, India's Army, Navy and Air Force deployed SCALP cruise missiles, HAMMER smart bombs, loitering munitions and ground-to-ground weaponry, killing around 70 to 100 militants and crippling key Lashkar‑e‑Taiba, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen infrastructure at Bahalwalpur and Muridke in Pakistan.Pahalgam's terrorists thought they were sending a message when they murdered husbands in front of their wives, after selecting victims by their religion. Via the name Operation Sindoor, the government sent an immeasurably bigger message back as India avenged the loss suffered by those women.Sindoor, vermillion, is a symbol of marriage in Hindu custom. Pakistan's military-intelligence-jihadi complex would have been among the first to note the image put out by Indian Army right after government's confirmation of the strikes - Operation Sindoor in block letters, with the first 'O' represented by a bowl of vermillion.
(With TOI inputs)
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