Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in November 2024.Sean Gallup/Getty Images/File

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has tasked his country’s military to enact “self-defense” with “corresponding actions,” hours after India launched a barrage of deadly strikes early Wednesday, according to his office.

Sharif called on Pakistan’s Armed Forces to “avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives,” after an emergency National Security Commitee (NSC) meeting on Wednesday.

India’s military had struck sites in both Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, killing at least 26 people – including a 3-year-old girl – and wounding at least 46 other people.

“Pakistan reserves the right to respond, in self-defence, at a time, place, and manner of its choosing to avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty,” the readout from the NSC meeting said.

“The Armed Forces of Pakistan have duly been authorized to undertake corresponding actions in this regard,” the statement added.

“The nation stands galvanized and resolute in the face of any further aggression.”

New Delhi said it launched the attack in response to a deadly massacre in Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22. Militant gunmen killed more than two dozen people, mostly tourists, in the restive region of Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad repeatedly denied involvement in the attack.

Since then, both parties have leveled warring rhetoric, rupturing already fractious relations between the two neighbors and escalating fears of all-out fighting.