Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Attempting to cover up Pakistan’s own cowardice, defeat, and its own army’s request to India that paused the Operation Sindoor in May 2025, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has thanked US President Donald Trump for his “timely” intervention in helping secure a ceasefire.

For this, he said, Pakistan will “forever remain grateful” to Trump.

After this ‘ceasefire,’ Pakistan even nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, 2026, which, however, the US President did not get!

Addressing a reception hosted by the US Embassy in Islamabad on Thursday to mark the 250th anniversary of American Independence, Shehbaz described Pakistan-US ties as a “true and special relationship” spanning nearly eight decades, the media reported on Friday.

Referring to the four-day military conflict between India and Pakistan in May 2025, triggered by a Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, killing 26 Hindu tourists, he said Trump’s intervention played a key role in ending hostilities.

He claimed that “following India’s unprovoked aggression after the Pahalgam incident, it was President Trump’s timely and most decisive intervention that resulted in a ceasefire between Pakistan and India on May 10, last year.”

“We shall forever remain grateful to President Trump for restoring peace in South Asia and saving millions of people. In this context, he will always be remembered as a man of peace,” Shehbaz said.

After the April 22, 2025, attack in Pahalgam, India launched a highly successful Operation Sindoor on May 7, destroying several military bases and terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Trump has claimed umpteen times that he helped secure peace between India and Pakistan. India, however, has consistently maintained that the pause in its military operations was because of a request from the panicked Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan to his Indian counterpart, reached directly between the two countries, and has rejected claims of any third-party mediation.

Shehbaz also lauded Trump’s “unique” leadership style, saying the US president had brought “energy and resolve” to Washington’s international engagement and pursuit of its interests.

Under his “bold and visionary leadership,” the US “continues to inspire confidence and dynamism, while advancing peace, progress and prosperity.”

“Ours is a true and special relationship, spanning over nearly eight decades and encompassing cooperation not only in security and counter-terrorism, but equally so in trade, investment, agriculture, science, education, health, energy and people-to-people exchanges,” he said.

On regional diplomacy, Shehbaz claimed that Pakistan was playing a role in facilitating contacts between the US and Iran and thanked Chief of Army Staff “Field Marshal” Syed Asim Munir for his contribution to ongoing peace efforts.

“As I speak, these efforts continue with the support of Iran and the United States, and let us pray that we achieve long-lasting peace as early as possible,” he said.

In her remarks, US Charge d’Affaires Natalie Baker described Pakistan and the US as “true strategic partners” and said the relationship was based on mutual respect, aligned interests and a shared vision for security and prosperity.

She said Trump’s approach towards Pakistan had been “direct, personal and consequential,” focused on delivering results, managing crises and seizing opportunities.