News
May 09, 2025
Pakistan Downs 29 Indian Drones, US Appeals for End to ViolenceIslamabad/Lahore: In the wake of Indian misadventure of launching 29 drones, which were all shot down by Pakistani forces, into Pak airspace, the US has warned that military action offers no solution to long-running disputes, urging restraint from both India and Pakistan.
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Thursday, “Violence is not the answer,” as she briefed reporters in Washington late Thursday. “We have seen in [the South Asian] region and in the Middle East that war and military action do not resolve these issues -- it never ends.” Diplomacy is the only viable path forward, she added.
The comments came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held separate calls with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, pressing both sides to avoid escalation and maintain direct lines of communication. According to Bruce, Rubio expressed condolences for civilian casualties during his conversation with Sharif, and reiterated Washington’s expectation that all parties work towards a “responsible solution”.
Bruce declined to provide further details on the nature of the discussions, citing diplomatic sensitivities, but confirmed that the US remains “deeply engaged” with both governments. “We believe it is essential that these conversations happen privately between leaders,” she said.
When asked whether the US had been presented with intelligence supporting India’s assertion that it struck terrorist infrastructure in retaliation, Bruce refrained from commenting on specifics. She underscored, however, that the US backs accountability for the perpetrators and supports efforts to investigate the incident.
While Pakistan has reportedly called for an independent probe into the latest incident, the US’s immediate focus, Bruce stressed, remains on halting further violence. “Right now, the priority is ending the back and forth and stopping the escalation,” she said.
Earlie in the day, the Pakistan military shot down at least 29 Israeli-manufactured Harop drones following a series of provocative attacks by India.
Deputy Prime Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, while addressing a media briefing along with Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry on Thursday evening, said that several armed Indian drones violated the Pakistani airspace by crossing the international border at multiple locations, with an apparent aim of targeting civilians and military installations. He also said that one of the drones struck the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, the venue of the ongoing PSL, in a deliberate attempt to target both domestic and foreign cricket players.
He said that Pakistan reserves the right to respond to India at a time, place and manner of its choosing, given the grave and unlawful Indian aggression of violating Pakistani airspace. He also noted that the National Security Committee at its meeting considered India’s act of holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and stopping Pakistan’s water an act of war.
While rubbishing India’s claims of attacks on 15 different locations in India, the foreign minister said that rather the adversary resorted to provocative and dangerously escalated attack, firing four projectiles, three of those intentionally targeting Amritsar while the fourth was neutralised by Pakistan’s air defence on entering Pakistani territory on Thursday, and its debris fell in Dinga town.
Dar also rejected any intention or action that may endanger the civilian population in Indian Punjab. He emphasized that the deep-rooted and centuries-old cultural affinity between Pakistan and the Sikhs of Indian Punjab is well known, along with the long history of communal persecution of both at the hands of the extremist Hindutva majority. He said this Indian act appears to be a design to falsely implicate Pakistan for targeting Indian civilians and incite anti-Pakistan sentiments among the Punjabi Sikh population to conveniently externalize the rising communal tensions within India. He said Pakistan deeply sympathizes with the Indian Sikh population as their lives were in danger by India’s malicious use of projectiles to achieve sinister political ends.
The deputy prime minister said Pakistan remains firmly committed to safeguarding innocent lives and regional harmony, unlike India’s divisive policies. Ishaq Dar said a political-based and motivated statement was issued that Pakistan attacked India’s military installations and buildings late Wednesday night. “It is a big lie and a shame. They concocted a story only to hide their embarrassment and sent their drones to Pakistan, which were downed at over 24 different locations in the country, from southern parts of the country to Islamabad,” he said.
ISPR DG Lt Gen Chaudhry said Pakistan has successfully neutralised 29 drones so far, assuring that any airborne object approaching Pakistan is closely monitored and will be taken down accordingly. The ISPR said that the drones were downed using both soft-kill (technical) and hard-kill (weapons-based) systems. He said India should refrain from creating war hysteria for domestic consumption and political purposes. He also condemned the targeting of religious sites, revealing that one of the drones was directed toward Nankana Sahib, a holy place for Sikhs, a move he described as abhorrent and unacceptable.
He further assured that Pakistan would respond at a time and place of its choosing, emphasising that the world would witness Pakistan’s retaliation, maintaining that the Armed Forces of Pakistan were at the highest level of alert. The ISPR DG said that the Harop drones were very well picked up by Pakistan’s air defence, but there is a methodology to engage and neutralise them.
The ISPR DG detailed the locations where 12 of those drones sent by India were neutralised — Lahore, Attock, Gujranwala, Chakwal, Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur in Punjab, as well as Sukkur’s Miano, Umerkot’s Chhor and near Karachi in Sindh. During the briefing, the debris of neutralised Indian drones and a projectile were displayed for the media. He said that only one drone managed to partially engage a military target, in which four soldiers were injured and equipment was damaged slightly. He said that three civilians were martyred and four others injured as a result of these drones. – The News
Courtesy The News
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