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shehbaz sharif
'Escalation Risks Catastrophe': Restraint Urged as Pakistan Vows to Avenge Indian Strikes
"An armed conflict between India and Pakistan would be catastrophic for the world and must be avoided at all costs," warned U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
May 07, 2025
Observers around the world sounded the alarm Wednesday over the risks of escalation between nuclear neighbors after Pakistan retaliated for Indian airstrikes that reportedly killed over 30 civilians including children in response to last month's Pahalgam massacre in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The Pakistani newspaper Dawnreported that India bombed six sites in Punjab's Sialkot and Bahawalpur, as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night as part of Operation Sindoor, a response to the April 22 militant attack on a tourist site in Pahalgam that killed 26 people. India blamed Pakistan for supporting "cross-border terrorism" after a front group of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility for the attack.
Officials in Islamabad said the Indian strikes this week skilled 31 civilians, including several children. In retaliation, Pakistan carried out artillery attacks across the so-called Line of Control on the border with India. The shelling reportedly killed at least 15 civilians. In a televised address, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the attacks a "reply" to India's airstrikes.
"When elephants fight, it's the grass that gets trampled."
Pakistani forces also shot down five Indian warplanes and attacked several Indian checkpoints, according to Pakistani military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry.
On Wednesday, Sharif claimed his government offered to cooperate with India to investigate the Pahalgam attack.
"Instead, they fired missiles inside our territory, thinking we would back down and will not retaliate," he said of India, vowing that "every drop of blood" will be avenged. Sharif added that India "must suffer the consequences" for its "cowardly" attacks.
Mirza Waheed, a Kashmiri journalist and award-winning novelist, toldDemocracy Now! on Wednesday that "this is a dangerous escalation."
Asked about the increasingly Hindu nationalist rule of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Waheed said "it is a different regime" than under previous New Delhi administrations, one that is "more open to armed response."
Noting that civilians have borne the brunt of cross-border clashes between Indian and Pakistani forces, Waheed said, "When elephants fight, it's the grass that gets trampled."
Foreign Policy South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman noted on social media that "India's strike on Pakistan is of much greater scale than the one in 2019."
"Pakistan's response, which according to many reports included downing several Indian jets, has also exceeded the scale of 2019," he added. "They're already higher up the escalatory ladder than any time in '19 crisis."
Echoing Wednesday's warning from a Nobel Peace Prize-winning nonproliferation group, British Green Party Member of Parliament Ellie Chowns said: "I am deeply alarmed by the overnight strikes between India and Pakistan and the tragic loss of civilian lives on both sides. As two nuclear-armed neighbors, escalation risks catastrophe."
"I urge both governments to step back from the brink in order to prioritize dialogue and lasting peace," Chowns added.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it is "concerned about the current developments" between the two nations. China controls about 15% of Kashmir.
"China opposes all forms of terrorism. We call on both India and Pakistan to prioritize peace and stability, remain calm and restrained, and avoid taking actions that further complicate the situation," the ministry said. "China finds India's military operation early this morning regrettable… India and Pakistan are and will always be each other's neighbors. They're both China's neighbors as well."
In the United States—which backed Pakistan's 1971 genocide in Bangladesh that ended following an Indian invasion—President Donald Trump called the escalating situation between the nuclear neighbors "a shame."
"I hope it ends very quickly," Trump added, offering to mediate a deescalation between the two countries, as the U.S. has repeatedly done in the past.
U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said on social media that "an armed conflict between India and Pakistan would be catastrophic for the world and must be avoided at all costs."
"The United States and our allies should be doing everything we can to stop another escalation and pursue all possible diplomatic avenues to resolve this peacefully," Omar asserted.
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Casar Leads Call for Probe of Election 'Rigging' as Pakistani Lawmakers Choose New PM
"We do not want the United States taxpayer dollars to go to militaries that then use that money to incarcerate journalists or suppress free speech or suppress political parties," said Rep. Greg Casar.
Mar 03, 2024
Pakistani lawmakers on Sunday elected Shehbaz Sharif to serve a second term as the country's prime minister following elections last month that were widely decried as illegitimate, with top officials and the military
manipulating the vote and cracking down on the party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan—the nation's most popular politician.
The election of Sharif, the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, drew shouts of protest from Khan's allies in Parliament who supported Omar Ayub, who served as federal minister for economic affairs under Khan. Despite facing large-scale repression ahead of the February contest, candidates backed by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won more seats than any other party—but not enough for an outright majority.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party, the favored party of the nation's military, formed an alliance with the Pakistan People's Party and others, a partnership that Khan allies have derided as a "coalition of losers" and "mandate thieves."
Less than two weeks after the national elections, a top Pakistani administrative official publicly admitted to manipulating the results by converting "losers into winners, reversing margins of 70,000 votes of independent candidates for 13 national Parliament seats."
PTI-backed candidates were forced to run as independents after election authorities banned the party's well-known symbol, a cricket bat.
قومی اسمبلی ہو یا سڑکیں، #CoalitionOfLosers کو پی ٹی آئی پارلیمنٹیرینز اور پاکستان کے عوام کی جانب سے ٹف ٹائم مل رہا ہے۔ ان کا مستقبل اچھا نظر نہیں آتا۔ وہ شرمناک زندگی گزار رہے ہیں کیونکہ پاکستان میں ہر کوئی جانتا ہے کہ وہ مینڈیٹ چور ہیں!#مینڈیٹ_پر_ڈاکہ_نامنظور pic.twitter.com/xuuo1kYmxX
— PTI Layyah (@PtiofficialLyh) March 3, 2024
Days before Sharif's election as prime minister, U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) expressed concerns about "pre- and post-poll rigging" and called on President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to withhold recognition of a new Pakistani government until a "thorough, transparent, and credible investigation of election interference has been conducted."
"Without taking this necessary step, you risk enabling anti-democratic behavior by Pakistani authorities and could undermine the democratic will of the Pakistani people," reads the letter, which was signed by more than 30 Democratic lawmakers.
"Pakistan is a longstanding ally of the United States, and we recognize the importance of our relationship for regional stability and counterterrorism efforts," the letter continues. "It is in the U.S. interest to ensure that democracy thrives in Pakistan and that election results reflect the interests of the Pakistani people, not the interests of the Pakistani elite and military. We look forward to working with you to show Pakistanis that the U.S. stands with them in their fight for democracy and human rights."
Last August, The Interceptobtained a secret cable indicating that the Biden administration pressured the Pakistani government to remove Khan as prime minister. Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote shortly after two American diplomats met with Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S. in March 2022.
Khan has since been imprisoned on corruption charges that he and his supporters say are politically motivated.
In an interview with Voice of America on Friday, Casar said he has "long studied" how "the United States supported coups, supported military governments, and suppressed democracy in Latin America."
"And that ultimately hurt, not just Latin Americans, but also hurt people in the United States. It did not work. It did not work economically. It did not work for our safety," said Casar. "The same should apply with [the] United States and Pakistan. We should not simply let geopolitics or corporations or our military alliance override our core value of democracy."
Addressing suggestions that his call for an investigation of the February election might constitute "meddling" in Pakistan's internal politics, Casar said that "our interest is not whether one group or another group wins an election."
"The people of Pakistan should be able to decide their own election," said Casar. "We have very clear laws that aid is contingent on human rights being respected, free speech being respected. We do not want the United States taxpayer dollars to go to militaries that then use that money to incarcerate journalists or suppress free speech or suppress political parties."
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US Progressives Decry Pakistani Military's Election Meddling
"We have a special responsibility to ensure that, going forward, our security cooperation is with a government that represents the will and democratic consent of the Pakistani people."
Feb 14, 2024
Leaders of the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus on Wednesday decried the Pakistani military's alleged meddling in last week's general election, in which candidates affiliated with jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party won the most parliamentary seats despite efforts to sideline them.
In a stunning rebuke of the military- and U.S.-backed caretaker government that dubiously charged Khan with corruption last year, candidates affiliated with the former prime minister and cricket superstar's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won 93 National Assembly seats, more than either the conservative Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) party's 75 seats or the center-left Pakistan People's Party's 54 seats.
"In their elections last week, Pakistanis sent an unequivocal message that they want a country led by the people, not the military," Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Chair Emeritus and Peace and Security Task Force Chair Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)—who is also running for U.S. Senate—said in a statement.
Khan is currently imprisoned after being sentenced last month to 10 years behind bars for allegedly leaking a diplomatic cable showing that the Biden administration encouraged the Pakistani government to oust him over his neutral stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Khan and his supporters say the charges against him were politically motivated.
On Tuesday, PMLN, PPP, and other party leaders agreed to form a coalition government, a move meant to thwart PTI power. Under the deal, Shehbaz Sharif, a former PMLN prime minister, will likely serve as Pakistan's next leader. The PTI says the military rigged or meddled in at least dozens of races.
The government was also widely criticized for blocking cellphone and internet service across the country during the election.
"We condemn the Pakistani military's efforts to impede those free and fair elections and call for the immediate cessation of any of those continuing efforts," Jayapal and Lee said in their statement. "Given the history of U.S. support for Pakistan's government and security forces, we have a special responsibility to ensure that, going forward, our security cooperation is with a government that represents the will and democratic consent of the Pakistani people."
The Biden administration and numerous U.S. lawmakers also expressed concerns regarding voter suppression and intimidation, restrictions of civil liberties, and electoral violence. Scores of people were killed and wounded in a pair of election eve bombings in Balochistan, among other incidents.
Writing for Foreign Policy in Focus on Tuesday, Mehlaqa Samdani of the advocacy group Community Alliance for Peace described some of the alleged voter suppression:
As the date for parliamentary elections approached, the PTI was stripped of its electoral symbol, and party candidates were forced to contest as independents... PTI candidates and their families were targeted, harassed, and assaulted, and many were forced to campaign in hiding.
Voter suppression was rife. People did not know until very late where they would vote, and at times voters within a single family were assigned polling stations hundreds of miles apart. The day before the election, citing security concerns, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced that polls would close early, further restricting voter access.
"And yet, despite massive pre-poll rigging and voter intimidation, supporters of the PTI came out in droves," Samdani added. "Tens of millions exercised their electoral rights and delivered a stunning upset."
Hasan Ali wrote for The Nation this week that Pakistan is "in a state of crisis."
"The country of 240 million people, which is reeling from chronic levels of inflation and an economic meltdown, needs a strong and stable government to address its problems," he asserted. "The official results of the election, however, have only added to the chaos. Any government that comes in, unless it is led by the PTI, will not have the legitimacy to make difficult decisions, and is likely to be dependent on the military's support."
"Pakistani progressives, too, have been left with a conundrum," he continued. "It is clear that the PTI has the overwhelming support of the population, but the party appears ideologically committed to the twin pillars of religious populism and social conservatism."
"On the other side stands the Pakistan army, which has destabilized Pakistani politics ever since the country gained its independence and made a habit of suppressing the rights of its citizens," Ali added. "The prevailing mood among the left thus far is that the people have made their choice in putting their faith in PTI and that this choice must be respected by the military establishment."
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