Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar stated that the country was forced to request a ceasefire with India last month after India struck two of its air bases in Rawalpindi and Punjab province as part of Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Pakistan Deputy PM Ishaq Dar' openly admits 2 things in this interview
📍India struck the Nir Khan Air base and Shorkot Air base
📍 Ishaq Dar' says Saudi Prince Faisal called him asking "Am I authorised to talk to Jaishankar also and CONVEY ..and you are READY TO TALK"… pic.twitter.com/45TJqnlWKu
— OsintTV 📺 (@OsintTV) June 19, 2025
Speaking on a TV news show, Dar said India struck the Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi and the Shorkot air base, also known as PAF Base Rafiqui, in Punjab province. Following these attacks, Pakistan sought intervention from the US and also received support from Saudi Arabia.
The Nur Khan air base is one of Pakistan’s most sensitive military facilities, hosting both air force operations and VIP transport units.
“Unfortunately, India launched missile strikes again at 2:30 am, targeting the Nur Khan and Shorkot air bases,” Dar said. “Within 45 minutes, Saudi Prince Faisal called me. He told me he had just learned about my conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and asked if he was authorised to speak to India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to convey that we were ready to stop if India halted its strikes. I said yes, brother, you may proceed. He later called back to confirm he had passed the message to Jaishankar.”
On the night of May 7-8, India launched Operation Sindoor, targeting and destroying infrastructure across nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied J&K (PoJK) in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack in J&K that killed 26 tourists. However, the operation heightened tensions between the two countries, triggering a series of strikes and counter-strikes, with India responding strongly to Pakistan’s actions.
According to government sources, US officials were already in contact with both India and Pakistan as tensions escalated. While publicly maintaining neutrality, the US reportedly delivered a firm message to Islamabad: use the official military hotline to de-escalate immediately. The US effectively “ordered” Pakistan to activate direct communication with the Indian Army without delay.
By the afternoon of May 10, after India repelled several of Pakistan’s aggressive moves, Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations, Major General Kashif Abdullah, called his Indian counterpart, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai. The call, made at 3:35 pm IST, was later confirmed by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri during a press briefing.
Following this, both sides agreed to cease all firing and military actions on land, air, and sea from 5 pm that day. However, Pakistan breached the ceasefire within hours of it taking effect.
Nur Khan is a key strategic air base located between Rawalpindi and Islamabad—Pakistan’s military headquarters and political capital, respectively.
Several social media videos showed Nur Khan Air Base engulfed in flames after a massive explosion. NDTV reported that satellite images from April 25, taken nearly two weeks before the strikes, showed the base and its trucks intact. However, satellite images from May 10 revealed two trailer trucks, believed to be command and control units, destroyed by a precise Indian strike. By May 17, following the ceasefire, satellite images captured Pakistan’s cleanup efforts at the air base.
PAF Base Rafiqui serves as one of Pakistan’s main fighter bases, housing combat aircraft like Chinese-made JF-17 jets, French Mirage 5 fighters, and Alouette III helicopters.
Additionally, retired Pakistani Air Marshal Masood Akhtar acknowledged losing the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft during Operation Sindoor. In an interview, he revealed that India’s precision missile strikes destroyed the AWACS plane at Islamabad’s Bholari air base, which provided long-range radar surveillance and airspace control.
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