Pakistan’s leader said Friday he was ready for talks with India and hailed the role of US President Donald Trump, who has been peeved by New Delhi’s reticence on his diplomacy.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the United Nations a day after he met with Trump at the White House alongside Pakistani military chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has told the US leader he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for a ceasefire in Pakistan’s May conflict with India.
“Pakistan stands ready for a composite, comprehensive and result-oriented dialogue with India on all outstanding issues. South Asia requires proactive rather than provocative leadership,” Sharif said in his speech to the UN General Assembly.
Sharif called Trump’s leadership “bold and visionary.”
Had Trump not intervened in a timely way and “decisively, the consequences of a full-fledged war would have been catastrophic,” he said.
In May, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered attacks on Pakistani military sites after suspected Islamist gunmen massacred civilians, almost all Hindus, in divided Kashmir.
Pakistan denied responsibility and Sharif, in his speech on Friday, claimed victory against what he described as aggression.
“India came shrouded in arrogance but we sent them back in humiliation, delivering a bloody nose,” he said.
Trump announced a ceasefire after four days of fighting, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying India and Pakistan would hold talks on their disagreements at a neutral site.
Modi played down any role by Trump. The once-tight US relationship with India has since soured, with Trump slapping tariffs over India’s purchases of oil from Russia.
Trump’s embrace of Pakistan in turn marks a shift after former US president Joe Biden kept the country at arm’s length, alarmed by Islamabad’s relationship with the Taliban during the two-decade US war in Afghanistan.
Shortly before the May conflict, a company run by the Trump family signed an agreement with Pakistan on cryptocurrency.
Pakistan has long sought an international role on Kashmir but India has refused and claims the whole Himalayan territory, which has a Muslim majority but significant Hindu minority.
