Islamabad, Dec 28: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has publicly acknowledged that India carried out precision strikes on the Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi in May, causing damage to military installations and injuring personnel—an admission that undercuts Islamabad’s earlier attempts to downplay the impact of the operation.
Speaking at a year-end press briefing on Saturday, Dar confirmed that Indian drones targeted Pakistani territory during the escalation following India’s Operation Sindoor, which was launched in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.
Dar said India sent multiple drones into Pakistan within a span of 36 hours, claiming that Pakistani air defences intercepted most of them. “In 36 hours, at least 80 drones were sent. We were able to intercept 79, and only one drone damaged a military installation and personnel were also injured,” he stated, referring specifically to the Nur Khan Air Base located in Rawalpindi’s Chaklala area.
The foreign minister further revealed that Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, held a high-level meeting on the night of May 9 and authorised decisions in response to the evolving situation. He added that India struck the Nur Khan Air Base in the early hours of May 10, conceding that damage had occurred.
With these remarks, Dar effectively confirmed India’s strategic military action against Pakistani installations during Operation Sindoor, which targeted nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). The Nur Khan Air Base, a key Pakistan Air Force facility, reportedly suffered significant damage during the Indian strikes.
India had launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7 as a retaliatory response to the Pahalgam terror attack. The operation led to a brief but intense escalation between the two countries, marked by increased cross-border shelling from Pakistan and counter-action by Indian forces.
The escalation ended after Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) contacted his Indian counterpart to propose a ceasefire, which was accepted by India. The outreach from Islamabad was later confirmed by India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who said both sides agreed to halt military operations on land, sea and air.
Satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies on May 13 showed extensive damage to multiple Pakistani air bases, including Nur Khan Air Base. The images indicated damage at four installations—Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, PAF Base Mushaf in Sargodha, Bholari Air Base, and PAF Base Shahbaz in Jacobabad—based on a comparison of images taken on April 25 and May 10, 2025.
This is not the first time a senior Pakistani leader has acknowledged the strikes. In May, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif admitted that Indian ballistic missiles hit Nur Khan Air Base and other locations on May 10, a rare public confirmation that contradicted Pakistan’s traditional stance of denial.
Addressing a ceremony at the Pakistan Monument on May 16, Sharif said he was informed by Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir at around 2:30 am on May 10 that Indian missiles had struck Nur Khan Air Base and other areas, according to a report by Geo News. (Agencies)
