AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday came down hard on Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country's army chief General Asim Munir following the Indian Air Force's (IAF) strike on the Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) Rahim Yar Khan airbase, one of eight airbases hit during the operation carried out early on 10 May.
"Will S Sharief & A Munir (sic) be able to land their leased Chinese aircraft at Rahim Yar Khan Airbase?" Owaisi posted on X.
Rahim Yar Khan serves as a forward operating base for the PAF's Central Command. It shares its only runway with the Sheikh Zayed International Airport, named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first President of the UAE, who funded the airport terminal’s construction. The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority oversees daily operations at the facility.
Located near Pakistan’s border with Rajasthan, the airbase suffered severe damage during the IAF strike, which created a large crater in the runway and brought all flight operations to a halt for a week.
In addition to Rahim Yar Khan, the IAF also targeted and damaged the PAF airbases at Nur Khan, Sukkur, Murid, Shahbaz, Mushaf, Rafiqui and Bholari. These retaliatory strikes followed missile attacks by Pakistan on Indian military installations, which were intercepted by India’s air defence systems.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Adampur airbase in Punjab, the IAF’s second-largest, dismissing Pakistan’s claims that it had destroyed the facility.
The IAF action was part of Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the 22 April terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 male tourists were killed by Pakistan-backed militants. Under the operation, the Indian armed forces conducted precision strikes on nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on 7 May, eliminating over 100 terrorists.