Military operation against India was ‘designed’ under supervision of Nawaz Sharif, claims minister

The military operation against India was "designed" under the supervision of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, claimed a provincial minister on Wednesday.

Nawaz, the former three-time premier and elder brother of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, had congratulated Pakistan's civil and military leadership soon after the two countries reached an understanding on Saturday to end the conflict.

"The whole operation against India was designed under the supervision of former prime minister and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif," Pakistan's Punjab province Information Minister Azma Bukhari claimed.

She said Nawaz is not a leader of "a, b, c, d type", rather his work speaks for himself.

"It was Nawaz Sharif who made Pakistan a nuclear power and now designed the whole operation against India," the minister claimed.

If the claim by Bukhari is true, then it reflects Nawaz's influence over the civil as well as military leadership of the country.

Interestingly, Nawaz attended a high-level meeting at the PM House convened to assess the Indo-Pak tensions on May 8. The meeting was called a day after India hit nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Since Nawaz holds no government portfolio, he attended the meeting in the capacity of the head of the ruling party government, the Express Tribune had reported.

In the meeting, the elder Sharif pitched for utilising all available diplomatic resources to restore peace with India, the report said.

"I am not in favour of taking an aggressive position (against India),” Nawaz was quoted as saying.

Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10.

Nawaz had been advocating a diplomatic solution to the rising tensions with India.

“Pakistan is a peace-loving country and prefers peace, but also knows how to defend itself,” Nawaz said in a post on X on Saturday.