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May 02, 2025
PM Shehbaz Thanks China for Endorsing Pakistan’s Proposal of Neutral Probe
Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday thanked China’s envoy for endorsing his offer to conduct a neutral probe into the Pahalgam attack, following India’s actions against Pakistan that have heightened the risks of a military confrontation between the two countries.
The April 22 attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam killed 26 people , mostly tourists, marking one of the deadliest assaults in the region since 2000. India has implied cross-border links without evidence, while Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership has rejected the accusation and called for a neutral probe .
Tensions have since spiked, with Pakistan reinforcing its forces and India’s premier granting “ operational freedom ” to his military. As Pakistan, in the early hours of Wednesday, said it expected an incursion from India within the next 24-36 hours, diplomatic channels from other countries have been engaged to prevent a possible military confrontation.
Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong called on Shehbaz at the PM House in Islamabad on Thursday, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported .
The premier thanked China for “endorsing his sincere offer to conduct a credible, neutral and transparent international investigation into the Pahalgam incident”.
He also conveyed that India’s “belligerent actions could distract Pakistan from its ongoing counterterrorism efforts” against the militant Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), who were “operating from inside Afghanistan”.
The past few years have witnessed a rise in the frequency of attacks targeting Chinese nationals working in Pakistan, with 20 Chinese citizens killed and 34 injured in terrorist attacks across the country since 2021.
On Tuesday, the military accused India of activating its “assets” to intensify terrorist attacks in Pakistan. The military spokesperson specifically cited the recent killing of 54 TTP militants during an infiltration attempt, saying it was “sponsored, facilitated, and abetted by India”.
In his meeting with the Chinese envoy, PM Shehbaz asserted that Pakistan had always condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. He highlighted that as a “frontline state” in the war against terrorism, Pakistan had sacrificed over 90,000 lives and suffered over $152 billion in economic losses.
Ambassador Zaidong thanked the prime minister for sharing Pakistan’s perspective on the “emerging situation due to baseless Indian propaganda and unilateral action”, APP quoted a press release from the PMO as saying.
He also affirmed that China would always support Pakistan to achieve the common desire of both countries to secure peace and stability in South Asia.
PM Shehbaz conveyed his warm wishes to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, expressing sincere thanks to China for its strong and steadfast support to Pakistan amid the prevailing situation in the region.
Recalling a telephonic conversation between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and FM Ishaq Dar on April 27, the premier thanked China for understanding Pakistan’s principled position vis-à-vis India’s actions since April 22.
Speaking about India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), PM Shehbaz said its “decision to weaponise water was extremely regrettable”, stressing that there was no provision for either party to walk away unilaterally from its commitments under the pact.
The premier underscored that the peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was the only way to ensure lasting peace in South Asia.
Continuing his diplomatic engagements with various countries, Deputy PM Ishaq Dar spoke on the phone with the foreign ministers of South Korea, Somalia and Slovenia in the day to brief them on the evolving regional situation, the Foreign Office (FO) said.
The foreign ministers underscored the importance of resolving issues through diplomacy to maintain regional peace and security.
As non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Dar and the ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening multilateral cooperation. The countries also agreed to further strengthen bilateral ties with Pakistan.
In his telephonic conversation with South Korea’s FM Cho Tae-yul, Dar apprised him of the escalating regional situation arising from India’s “baseless propaganda and unilateral actions”.
FM Cho appreciated the successful co-hosting of the Third UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Preparatory Meeting in Islamabad last month.
Slovenia’s FM Tanja Fajon welcomed Pakistan’s offer for an independent and transparent investigation into the Pahalgam attack, the FO said on X.
FM Abdisalam Abdi Ali of Somalia expressed concern over the situation, FO said.
Separately, Pakistan’s envoy to the United States has asked President Donald Trump to step in and help ease soaring tensions with India, according to a report by Newsweek.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Rizwan Saeed Sheikh told Newsweek on Wednesday that for a president “standing for peace in the world as a pronounced objective during this administration” — referring to Trump — there was no “higher or flashier flashpoint” than the Kashmir issue.
“If we have a president who is standing for peace in the world as a pronounced objective during this administration, to establish a legacy as a peacemaker — or as someone who finished wars, defied wars and played a role in de-confliction, resolving the disputes — I don’t think there is any higher or flashier flash point, particularly in nuclear terms, as Kashmir,” Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh told Newsweek.
“We are not talking about one or two countries in that neighborhood who [sic] are nuclear-capable. So, that is how grave it is,” he said in an interview with the US magazine.
In his inaugural speech as the US president, Trump had said: “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.” A ceasefire, which has now been violated, was secured between Israel and Hamas following Trump’s election, and he has also been engaging with Ukraine and Russia to halt their war.
According to Newsweek, Sheikh contended that the Trump administration would need to pursue a more comprehensive and sustained initiative than in past US attempts to defuse crises that have erupted between Pakistan and India.
“I think with this threat that we are facing, there is a latent opportunity to address the situation by not just [focusing] on an immediate de-escalatory measure, or a de-escalatory approach,” the envoy said.
He called for a more durable and lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute, “rather than allowing the situation to stay precarious and pop up again and again at the next drop of a hat on this side or that side”.
During his interview, Sheikh emphasized that the Kashmir issue was the root cause of all troubles between India and Pakistan.
“Until and unless that final settlement is made and the resolutions dictate the prescribed solution is allowed to play out, we will all keep having these problems,” Sheikh said. “That’s why we insist on the United States and others playing a role in this situation and getting the de-confliction part activated,” he added.
If the long-standing dispute was resolved, the ambassador said, the population of South Asia could live in peace. “All the other issues between Pakistan and India are not major issues,” he noted.
“We do not want to fight, particularly with a bigger country,” Sheikh said. “We want peace. It suits our economic agenda; it suits our nationhood. It suits every objective that we have currently. But we want peace with dignity.
“We would not want to do it, but if it is imposed, then we would rather die with dignity than survive with indignity,” Sheikh asserted.
The call for Trump to play a role in reducing the tensions came the same day as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to speak to top Pakistani and Indian leaders.
In his phone call with Rubio, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the US to press India to “dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly”.
In a readout of the call with PM Shehbaz, issued by the US State Department, Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: “Both leaders reaffirmed their continued commitment to holding terrorists accountable for their heinous acts of violence.”
“The secretary (Rubio) urged Pakistani officials’ cooperation in investigating this unconscionable attack. He also encouraged Pakistan to work with India to de-escalate tensions, re-establish direct communications, and maintain peace and security in South Asia,” the statement said.
Sheikh, reiterating Pakistan’s stance, rejected any involvement of his country in the Pahalgam attack, arguing that the fallout of such an operation could only serve to harm rather than benefit Pakistan’s interests.
“Pakistan is focusing on a matter of a deliberate, considered, pronounced shift of our foreign policy, a pivot from geopolitics to geoeconomics,” the envoy told Newsweek.
“We are focused on the geoeconomics side of our geography and our foreign policy. We are currently economically ascendant,” the official said, stressing that Pakistan only needed a “peaceful neighborhood” in terms of the broader region.
Terming it “so outlandish, so far-fetched, to blame Pakistan” for the Pahalgam attack, Sheikh said Islamabad was awaiting evidence from New Delhi to prove a link between the incident and Pakistan.
Moreover, the envoy said the attack could be a “false flag operation” conducted to intentionally lay the blame on Pakistan. He acknowledged he could not yet back up the claim, but there was “enough circumstantial evidence, history, […] immediate backdrop and setting […] to entertain that possibility.
Additional input from AFP, Reuters. Dawn
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