‘If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are’: Jaishankar
‘If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are’: Jaishankar
M.U.H
22/05/202517
New Delhi: Operation Sindoor is continuing because India will respond if there is another terror attack like the one at Pahalgam last month and hit terrorists operating from Pakistan, external affairs minister S Jaishankar has said, outlining India’s new approach to countering cross-border terrorism.
Jaishankar reiterated during an interview with Dutch public broadcaster NOS that the May 10 understanding on halting military actions was reached bilaterally by India and Pakistan after Indian strikes “compelled the Pakistani military to accept that we need to stop firing at each other”. He ruled out any US role in this understanding or in any possible talks with Pakistan.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 that killed 26 civilians, targeting terrorist infrastructure at nine sites in territories controlled by Pakistan. This triggered four days of intense clashes, with both sides using drones, missiles and long-range weapons, before the two sides agreed to halt military actions.
“The operation continues because there is a clear message in that operation – that if there are acts of the kind we saw on April 22, there will be a response, that we will hit the terrorists,” Jaishankar said about Operation Sindoor, which, Indian officials had said earlier, has not concluded.
“If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are. So, there is a message in continuing the operation but continuing the operation is not the same as firing on each other. Right now, there is an agreed cessation of fighting and military action,” he added.
Asked if the operation was dormant, he replied: “Put whatever word you want to, but I can tell you the message is clear and the message is act.”
The fighting was “triggered by a very barbaric terrorist attack” in Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 people were “murdered in front of their families after ascertaining their faith”. The attack was intended to harm tourism, which is the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy, and to “create a religious discord”, Jaishankar said.
“Deliberately, an element of religion was introduced and to understand that you've got to see that on the Pakistani side, you have a Pakistani leadership, especially the army chief, who's very driven by an extreme religious outlook. There is clearly some connect between the views that were expressed and the behavior that was done,” he said, referring to Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir’s remarks about the two-nation theory a week before the Pahalgam attack.
Jaishankar said it was “impossible” for the Indian government to not respond to the Pahalgam attack, which was carried out by The Resistance Front, a proxy for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). “It was imperative that we have a response because the lack of response...was impossible in such a situation...Our government is very clear that if there is such an attack, there will be a response,” he said.
The Indian side initially targeted nine locations that are listed by the UN as terrorist centres, and then responded when the Pakistani military “chose to fire on us”, Jaishankar said. The “decisive day” was May 10, when India responded to a Pakistani attack by hitting eight Pakistani airbases and making them non-functional by targeting runways and command centres, he said.
“That I think compelled the Pakistani military to accept that we need to stop firing at each other. Now what has happened is that, at the moment, there is no firing and there's been some repositioning of forces accordingly,” he said.
Jaishankar responded to several questions about the role of the US, particularly President Donald Trump’s claims about brokering a truce between India and Pakistan, by saying that the May 10 understanding was reached bilaterally.
Jaishankar said US secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke to him while vice president JD Vance called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and there were also contacts by leaders of countries in West Asia and other regions aimed at reducing tensions. “When two countries are engaged in a conflict, it is natural that countries in the world call up and...try to sort of indicate their concern...but the cessation of firing and military action was something which was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan,” he said.
“We made one thing very clear to everybody who spoke to us, not just the US but to everybody, saying if the Pakistanis want to stop fighting, they need to tell us. We need to hear it from them. Their general has to call up our general and say this. And that is what happened,” he added.
Jaishankar said the only issues India is willing to discuss with Pakistan is ending terrorism and the return of the part of Kashmir illegally occupied by the neighbouring country. The borders in Kashmir are not up for negotiation “because Kashmir is part of India”, he said.
Responding to a question about India being held back economically because of conflicts on the borders with China and Pakistan, Jaishankar said: “Our security challenges were far more threatening than yours [Europe’s], so we had to prioritise security. You don't choose between security and economic prosperity. Today, you are realising that they are part of the same coin.”
