Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif vows retaliation, says will take this war to the end

Flustered by the Indian armed forces attack on terror bases under Operation Sindoor Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed retaliation Indias targeted military strikes under Operation Sindoor hit nine highvalue terror infrastructure sites across Pakistan and Pakistanoccupied Kashmir PoK including the hideouts of top terror masterminds Maulana Masood Azhar and Hafiz SaeedAddressing the nation following Indias unprecedented action against terrorism Sharif on Wednesday asserted Pakistans intent to respond forcefullyPakistan will take revenge We will take this war to the end My Pakistani people for your safety our army and our people we will always be united Pakistan is most affected by terrorism he said reported news agency IANSPakistans National Security Committee earlier issued a statement saying the armed forces had been authorised to retaliate at a time place and manner of its choosing in response to Indias strikesHowever earlier in the day Pakistans Defence Minister Khawaja Asif claimed that the situation could deescalate if India stepped back from its current military postureIf India is ready to back down we will definitely wrap up this tension Asif saidNotably in a recent interview with Sky News Asif candidly acknowledged Pakistans longstanding support for terror organisations although he sought to deflect some responsibility by recalling the Cold Warera collaboration with the West in AfghanistanWe have been doing this dirty work for the US for the past three decades including the West and the United Kingdom Asif admitted though no Western nation has backed attacks on India reported IANSIndias operation came as a direct response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam Jammu and Kashmir which claimed the lives of 26 people including a Nepali national The Resistance Front a proxy of Pakistanbased LashkareTaiba took responsibility for the massacreThe precision strikes on Wednesday carried out jointly by the Indian Army Air Force and Navy targeted six key locations deep inside Pakistani territory Among them was Masjid SubhanAllah in Bahawalpurs Ahmedpur Sharqia believed to be a hideout of JaisheMohammed JeM chief Masood AzharOther targets included facilities in Muridke reportedly the headquarters of LashkareTaiba LeT and JamaatudDawa JuD chief Hafiz Saeed as well as terror installations in Muzaffarabad Kotli and BaghIndia has underscored that Operation Sindoor was a measured calibrated and nonescalatory response focused solely on neutralising terror threats and avoiding civilian or military infrastructureWith inputs from IANSatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params