Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the country’s nuclear programme is intended strictly for “peaceful purposes and self-defence”, drawing a contrast to earlier statements by senior Pakistani officials who had openly threatened nuclear retaliation in the event of conflict with India.

Mr Sharif’s remarks, delivered on Saturday while addressing a group of Pakistani students, come less than two months after a senior Pakistani diplomat explicitly warned of using “the full spectrum of power, both conventional and nuclear” in the context of rising tensions with New Delhi. The Pakistani Prime Minister’s attempt to tone down nuclear escalation marks a shift following heightened tensions due to Operation Sindoor, a military response by India to the April 22 terror attack Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 people.

“Pakistan’s nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and national defence, not for aggression,” Mr Sharif said.

The prime minister’s statement, though made in a civilian context, directly contradicts remarks made in May by Muhammad Khalid Jamali, Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia. Speaking to Russian state broadcaster RT, Mr Jamali warned of imminent Indian military strikes and vowed Pakistan would respond with the “full spectrum of power”. He alleged that Islamabad had intelligence pointing to India’s plans to target specific areas within Pakistan, adding that any such attack or disruption of Pakistan’s water supply would invite nuclear retaliation.

“Any attempt to usurp the water of the lower riparian, or to stop it, or to divert it would be an act of war,” Mr Jamali said. “It would be responded to with full force of power, including full spectrum of power.”

The remarks were widely interpreted as an official Pakistani signal that nuclear options were being kept on the table in the event of escalation.

India, for its part, has stated unequivocally that it will not be deterred by nuclear threats. Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7 and continuing through mid-May, targeted nine terror-related infrastructure points in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), in what Indian officials described as “pre-emptive precision strikes.”

Indian intelligence agencies attributed the April 22 attack in Pahalgam to Pakistan-based groups, including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Hizbul Mujahideen. According to Indian security officials, over 100 terrorists were killed during the strikes.

“India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail while acting against terrorism and its sponsor. Our response is calibrated, precise, and resolute,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on May 13.

India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan also weighed in publicly, noting that the era of nuclear deterrence was not an excuse for state-sponsored terrorism.

“India has made it clear that it will not be deterred by nuclear blackmail,” Mr Chauhan said at an Observer Research Foundation (ORF) event recently. “Operation Sindoor stands as an example of conflict engagement between two nuclear powers where conventional force was utilised decisively.”

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China remains Pakistan’s principal defence partner, having sold arms worth $8.2 billion to Islamabad since 2015. Between 2020 and 2024, Pakistan received 63 per cent of China’s arms exports – the highest share for any single country.