Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif delivered a long and frequently belligerent speech to the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, railing against India for what he described as unprovoked aggression in May, and claiming Pakistan humiliated the Indian military in response.
He was fulsome in his praise of President Donald Trump for negotiating an end to the conflict.
Sharif began with a gloomy assessment of the state of the world.
“Our world is more complex today than ever before. Conflicts are intensifying, international law is being brazenly violated, humanitarian crises are multiplying, terrorism remains a potent threat, disinformation and fake news undermine trust, climate change threatens our very survival – and more so, countries like Pakistan,” he said.
Sharif defended Pakistan’s conduct during its recent conflict with India, which began after a brutal terrorist attack against Indian civilians in the Pahalgam tourist region of Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for sheltering the terrorists, or even enabling the murderous rampage that killed 26 civilians. Pakistan denied involvement in the attack.
Sharif claimed the conflict began with “unprovoked aggression” by India.
“The enemy came shrouded in arrogance. We sent them back in humiliation, delivering a bloody nose!” he exclaimed, punching the podium for emphasis.
That is not quite how most military analysts would score the conflict, during which India was able to destroy numerous targets in Pakistan with missiles, artillery, and drones while taking very little damage in return. Pakistan’s unverified claims to have shot down a few top-shelf Indian jet fighters would be embarrassing for the Indian air force, if true. Indian officials have disputed these claims.
Whatever the scorecard looked like after a week of skirmishes along the border, most observers would agree the war would have gotten much worse for both sides if it had continued, a point the Pakistani prime minister stressed later in his speech.
“India sought to extract political gains from a human tragedy by spurning my sincere offer of an independent international investigation into the Pahalgam incident,” Sharif charged. “Instead, it attacked our cities and targeted our innocent civilians. When our territorial integrity and national security were violated, our response was in accordance with the right of self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations charter.”
Sharif praised the “stunning bravery and professionalism” of Pakistan’s armed forces in response to India’s attack, and repeated Pakistan’s claims that its fighters were able to turn seven Indian warplanes into “scrap and dust.” Some of the Pakistani delegates to the United Nations burst into applause and chanting after he made the claim.
After singling out various Pakistani military officials and “martyrs” for particular praise, Sharif said the May conflict with India came to an end — even though he claimed Pakistan was in a position of dominant “strength” — with a “ceasefire facilitated by President Donald Trump’s bold and visionary leadership.”
“We express our deep appreciation to him for his active role in bringing about the ceasefire,” Sharif said. “President Trump’s efforts for peace helped avert a more threatening war in South Asia. Had he not intervened, timely and decisively, the consequences of a full-fledged war would have been catastrophic. Who would have lived to tell what happened?”
“Therefore, in recognition of President Trump’s wonderful and outstanding contribution to promote peace in our part of the world, Pakistan nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. I think this is the least we could do for his love for peace. I think, truly, he is a man of peace,” Sharif said, inspiring another round of applause from the gallery.
Sharif thanked Pakistan’s other partners, including China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Iran, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for supporting Pakistan “at this crucial time.”
“We have won the war, and now we seek to win peace in our part of the world,” he declared.
“Pakistan stands ready for a composite, comprehensive, and result-oriented dialog with India on all outstanding issues,” he said, although he was not quite finished with throwing shade at New Delhi.
“South Asia requires proactive, rather than provocative, leadership. India’s illegal and unilateral attempt to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance defies the provisions of the treaty itself, as well as the norms of international law,” he charged.
The Indus Waters Treaty is a 1960 agreement that divided the six great rivers of the Indus basin between India and Pakistan. The treaty stipulated that India could use the rivers under its control for projects such as hydroelectric power, provided it did not alter the flow of water into Pakistan’s fragile water table. If India chose to violate the agreement, it could choke off the majority of Pakistan’s water supply.
India formally suspended the treaty after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam because it felt the Pakistani government was not doing enough to capture the perpetrators or prevent further terrorist attacks on India. India recently announced the first project that would substantially change the flow of the Indus rivers, a canal that would divert more water to India’s northern states.
Sharif angrily declared that Pakistan would “ardently defend, inshallah, the inseparable right of our 240 million people on these waters.” Inshallah means “as Allah wills.”
“To us, any violation of this Indus treaty represents an act of war,” he said.
Sharif then plowed even further into territory certain to irritate New Delhi by pledging that “India’s tyranny in Kashmir will come to a grinding halt,” a promise he punctuated with another inshallah and some more podium-pounding.
“Kashmir will gain its fundamental right to self-determination through an impartial plebiscite under the auspices of this very organization, the United Nations,” he said.
Sharif let India off the hook to highlight the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, a “prolonged injustice,” a “stain on the global conscience,” and our “collective moral failure.”
“For nearly 80 years, the Palestinians have courageously endured Israel’s brutal occupation of their homeland. In the West Bank, each passing day brings new brutality — illegal settlers who terrorize and kill with impunity. Nobody can challenge them or question them,” he claimed.
“In Gaza, Israel’s genocidal onslaught has unleashed unspeakable terror upon women and children, in a manner we have not witnessed in the annals of history,” he said. “In blind pursuit of its nefarious goals, the Israeli leadership has unleashed a shameful campaign against the innocent Palestinians, which history will always remember as one of its darkest chapters.”
Sharif nearly lost control of himself when talking about the Gaza conflict, trembling and hammering the podium as he demanded a “ceasefire now” and the “establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders and al-Quds Sharif as its capital.” Al-Quds Sharif is an Arabic phrase meaning “The Holy City” that refers to Jerusalem.
“Palestine can no longer remain under Israeli shackles. It must be liberated, and liberated with full commitment and force!” he shouted, drowning out his own words by delivering his sharpest blows to the unfortunate podium.
Sharif applauded the European states that have unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state, and urged “others to also follow suit, because time and tide wait for none.” He also thanked President Trump for his “timely initiative to invite Arab-Islamic states, three days ago here in this building, for a consultative session at the United Nations.”
“I hope, and pray to God, that it has rekindled hope for a ceasefire in the nearest future,” he said.
Sharif animatedly insisted that Pakistan stands at the forefront of efforts to erase terrorism from the Earth, rattling off a long list of terrorist organizations that have conducted “heinous attacks” on Pakistani soil. He was particularly insistent that Iran must crack down on the groups that attack Pakistan from Iranian soil.
Sharif denounced “hate speech” and “Islamophobia,” calling for worldwide efforts to police what he deemed offensive speech, and he portrayed his country as among the worst victims of climate change — a scourge he has no intention of making any further sacrifices to combat, since he claimed Pakistan has already done more than enough by keeping its emissions low.
“How can you expect a country, which is a developing country, facing humongous flood challenges every year due to climate change, through no fault of ours — and yet we are told to borrow more loans? I think borrowing loans would be destroying your economy,” he said, suddenly delivering his strongest fusillade of hammer blows to the unsuspecting podium for emphasis.
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