Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday to signal a willingness to reset relations with India, offering dialogue after months of heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Referring to May’s four-day confrontation that saw airstrikes, missile exchanges, and a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Sharif said Pakistan had responded decisively to “unprovoked aggression” but was now prepared to pursue peace.
“We have won the war, and now we seek to win peace in our part of the world. This is my most sincere serious offer before this august assembly of the world nations. Pakistan stands ready for a composite, comprehensive and result-oriented dialogue with India on all outstanding issues,” he told delegates.
The remarks were widely interpreted as an olive branch, even as Sharif vowed Pakistan would continue to defend Kashmir and uphold its treaty rights on shared waters.