In a rare public admission, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed that it was Islamabad which requested a ceasefire after Indian missile strikes hit two of Pakistan’s major airbases—Nur Khan in Chaklala and Shorkot in Punjab—on May 10.
Speaking on a televised news show, Dar disclosed that India’s strikes—part of Operation Sindoor, launched in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack—disabled the northern air command-control system at Nur Khan Airbase. The operation also targeted Shorkot Airbase.
“Unfortunately, India once again launched missile strikes at 2:30 AM… Within 45 minutes, Saudi Prince Faisal called me… He asked if he could convey our readiness for a ceasefire to Jaishankar. I said yes,” Dar stated in a now-viral video.
This comes amid Pakistan’s earlier acknowledgment that an air force jet had sustained damage during the Indian offensive. However, Pakistan Army spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry downplayed the incident, saying only one aircraft had suffered “minor damage.”
In contrast, Indian Air Force Air Marshal AK Bharti revealed that India shot down multiple advanced Pakistani jets during the operation. He noted that while India also faced combat losses, its fighter pilots had safely returned.
Operation Sindoor, launched two weeks after the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people, involved precise drone and missile strikes on terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The hostilities ended with a ceasefire understanding on May 10, after four days of intense military engagement.
