Pakistan ready for talks with India on all issues, Shahbaz Sharif tells UN

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday he was ready for talks with India and hailed the role of US President Donald Trump, who has been peeved by New Delhi's reticence on his diplomacy.

Shahbaz Sharif addressed the United Nations a day after he met with Trump at the White House alongside Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has told the US leader he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for a ceasefire in Pakistan's May conflict with India.

"Pakistan stands ready for a composite, comprehensive and result-oriented dialogue with India on all outstanding issues. South Asia requires proactive rather than provocative leadership," Shahbaz said in his speech to the UN General Assembly (UNGA). Shahbaz called Trump's leadership "bold and visionary."

Had Trump not intervened in a timely way and "decisively, the consequences of a full-fledged war would have been catastrophic," he said.

In May, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered attacks on Pakistani military sites after suspected gunmen massacred civilians, almost all Hindus, in divided Kashmir.

Pakistan denied responsibility and Shahbaz, in his speech on Friday, claimed victory against what he described as aggression.

“Last year, from this very podium, I had warned that Pakistan would act — and act most decisively — against any external aggression. Those words of mine proved true. I hoped they would not. But then, that is destiny,” the prime minister stressed.

"India came shrouded in arrogance but we sent them back in humiliation, delivering a bloody nose," he said.

Trump announced a ceasefire after four days of fighting, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying India and Pakistan would hold talks on their disagreements at a neutral site.

Modi played down any role by Trump. The once-tight US relationship with India has since soured, with Trump slapping tariffs over India's purchases of oil from Russia.

Trump's embrace of Pakistan in turn marks a shift after former US president Joe Biden kept the country at arm's length, alarmed by Islamabad's relationship with the Taliban during the two-decade US war in Afghanistan.

Shortly before the May conflict, a company run by the Trump family signed an agreement with Pakistan on cryptocurrency.

Tariq Butt / Agence France-Presse