India launched Brahmos before Pakistan could strike: Shehbaz Sharif

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reportedly admitted that Islamabad's planned offensives on May 9 and 10 were thwarted by the Indian BrahMos missile-led attack on key Pakistani bases.

The Indian attack was even successful in taking out the Rawalpindi airport and the adjacent Nur Khan airbase, he said at a meeting in Azerbaijan.

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This Indian attack came after Pakistan launched attacks on civilian areas along the western border, damaging buildings in several villages.

India struck before Pak attack

Speaking at the Pakistan-Turkey-Azerbaijan trilateral summit in Azerbaijan’s Lachin, Sharif said that the Pakistani military, led by Field Marshal Asim Munir, had planned to attack India at 4:30 am on May 10 after the morning prayers.

But even before they had begun their offensive, India responded with its own pre-emptive strike, bringing down multiple Pakistani military installations and strategic locations with its arsenal, led by the BrahMos missile.

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“On the night of May 9-10, we decided to respond in a measured fashion to Indian aggression. Our armed forces were prepared to act at 4.30 in the morning after Fajr prayers to teach a lesson. But before that hour even arrived, India once again launched a missile attack using BrahMos, targeting various provinces of Pakistan, including the airport in Rawalpindi," Sharif said while addressing the event.

“India destroyed Noor Khan (Rawalpindi) and Murid (Chakwal) bases before our planned attack time arrived," he added.

BrahMos' role

India unleashed its formidable BrahMos supersonic cruise missile as part of Operation Sindoor in retaliatory precision strikes on Pakistani military bases.

Replying to these attacks, Pakistan had escalated the situation on the border and conducted several drone attacks on Indian cities, but those were intercepted and taken down by the air defence system — S-400 and Akash.

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India had responded to the provocation and dispatched its drones to multiple cities in Pakistan, causing structural damage in several areas.

A ceasefire was finally announced between New Delhi and Islamabad on May 10 after the latter’s DGMO reached out to his counterpart in Delhi to cease military actions, but this was immediately broken when Pakistan conducted cross-border shelling along the Western border, damaging several buildings and injuring people.

Previous admission

This is not the first time that Sharif has admitted that Operation Sindoor caused severe damage in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, he had confirmed that Indian ballistic missiles struck the Nur Khan Airbase and other targets inside Pakistan during the early hours of May 10, but had not gone into much detail regarding the circumstances of the mission.

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Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad, Mr Sharif recounted a 2:30 am call from the Chief of Army Staff, General Syed Asim Munir, informing him of the missile attacks launched by India.

"In the intervening night of May 9-10, around 2:30 AM, General Asif Munir called me through a secure phone and told me India has launched its ballistic missiles. One has landed at the Nur Khan airbase and some at other areas," he said.

India's ultimatum

Earlier this week, Sharif said that the country is ready to talk with India "to find solutions" to "longstanding problems", including Kashmir, water-sharing, and trade.

India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded to the call at his weekly media briefing and said that "terrorism and talks cannot go together."

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He said that no talks would go forward unless Pakistan stopped its dastardly acts of cross-border terrorism.

He added, "As far as our engagement with Pakistan is concerned, our stand has been clear. Any engagement has to be bilateral. They need to hand over to India, noted terrorists, whose records and list we submitted to them some years ago. Talks on Jammu and Kashmir will be held only on the vacating of PoK and when Pakistan hands over the territory to us."

He also confirmed that the Indus Waters Treaty will remain suspended until Pakistan "credibly and irrevocably abjures its support to cross-border terrorism", adding, 'Water and blood cannot flow together."

Operation Sindoor

India launched “precision strikes" under Operation Sindoor on nine terror targets in Pakistan and PoK following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.

The strikes killed over 100 terrorists including 10 family members of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and four close aides. According to government sources, these terrorists were affiliated with groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen.

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The targets included Jaish’s Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, Sarjal camp in Tehra Kalan, Markaz Abbas in Kotli, and the Syedna Bilal camp in Muzaffarabad. Lashkar’s strongholds — Markaz Taiba in Murdike, Markaz Ahle Hadith in Barnala, and Shwawai Nalla camp in Muzaffarabad — were also hit.