Pakistani premier thanks Erdoğan for ‘standing resolutely’ with his country

ISTANBUL

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for “standing resolutely” with Pakistan during its recent tensions with India.

“Through his steadfast support, President Erdoğan demonstrated, once again, his love and affection for the people of Pakistan,” Sharif said during a meeting with Irfan Neziroğlu, Turkish ambassador to Pakistan, according to a press release by Sharif’s office.

Praising Turkish people’s support for Pakistan during “these challenging days,” Sharif said it added “a new and glorious chapter in the history of Pakistan-Türkiye fraternal ties.”

He reiterated that while Pakistan has consistently sought peace in South Asia, it will “never accept any violation of its sovereignty or territorial integrity.”

The meeting came after the U.S. mediated a ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbors, India and Pakistan, following a week of heightened military tensions during which the two sides fired missiles across the border.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed Monday to respond strongly to any future "terrorist attack", and warned that New Delhi would not tolerate "nuclear blackmail" in the event of further conflict with Pakistan.

A weekend ceasefire which U.S. President Donald Trump said he brokered appeared to be holding Monday after four days of intense jetfighter, missile, drone and artillery attacks - the worst violence between the two nuclear-armed neighbours since 1999.

Trump said Monday that U.S. intervention had prevented a "bad nuclear war".

The alarming spiral towards all-out war began before dawn on Wednesday, when India launched missile attacks destroying what it called "terrorist camps" in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir.

Each side then accused the other of launching waves of warplane and drone strikes, as well as missile and artillery bombardments that killed at least 60 people on both sides.