At UN, Shehbaz Sharif credits Trump for intervening in India-Pakistan conflict

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used his address at the UN General Assembly on Friday to credit US President Donald Trump for his "timely intervention" during the 2025 conflict with India. In his speech, Sharif also raised the Kashmir issue and said a "just and fair solution" was needed to ensure South Asia does not return to the brink seen during that conflict.

Sharif thanked Trump for his "resolute and visionary leadership", saying the American leader's intervention saved hundreds of millions of lives in South Asia. Trump has repeatedly claimed, including in his address to the UN General Assembly this week, that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan. New Delhi has consistently denied any third-party intervention.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack, in which 26 civilians were killed. In his about 23-minute address, Sharif said that to ensure South Asia never reaches that precipice again, the Kashmir issue must be resolved.

India has repeatedly rejected Pakistan's assertions on Kashmir at the UN General Assembly and other UN platforms, saying that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. As it does every year, India will field one of its youngest diplomats at its Permanent Mission to the UN to exercise its Right of Reply and respond to Sharif's address.

Sharif also referred to the Indus Waters Treaty. India has said the treaty will be held in abeyance until Pakistan, which it has described as a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border and all other forms of terrorism. India decided to put the treaty in abeyance as part of a series of punitive diplomatic and economic measures announced soon after the Pahalgam terror attack.

In his address, Sharif also spoke about Pakistan's efforts to broker peace between the US and Iran in the ongoing conflict in West Asia. "Pakistan chose to act swiftly through concerted efforts. Pakistan successfully brought Washington and Tehran under one roof in Islamabad. From the Islamabad talks to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, many historic steps were taken to bring an end to this serious conflict," he said.

Sharif repeatedly thanked Pakistan Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir in his speech, crediting his "relentless efforts" to help create "space for diplomacy under exceptionally difficult and challenging circumstances". The address centred on Pakistan's account of the 2025 conflict with India, the Kashmir issue, the Indus Waters Treaty, and Islamabad's claim of a diplomatic role in the US-Iran conflict.