On Tuesday 1st July, the External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, was straightforward. He spoke about the consequences of attacking ‘nuclear-armed’ Pakistan. He reiterated that India would not yield to nuclear blackmail.
This came in the context of the world worrying about nuclear warfare between India and Pakistan. Tensions escalated between the two countries after the Pahalgam terror attack on 22nd April. In response, India launched Operation Sindoor to destroy terror infrastructure in Pakistan. Military aggression and cross-border hostilities followed for four days before a ceasefire was reached.
Zero Tolerance to Terrorism
Jaishankar said India will not tolerate terror sponsorship any longer. Notably, The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We are very clear there will be no impunity for terrorists. India will not deal with them any longer as proxies. We will not spare the government which supports, finances, and in many ways, motivates them. We will not allow nuclear blackmail to stop us from responding.” Jaishankar spoke during an interview with Newsweek. It was hosted at the publication’s headquarters at One World Trade Centre near the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan.
The external affairs minister said that we have long heard the same reasoning. India and Pakistan are both nuclear countries. Therefore, the other guy will come and do horrible things. But you mustn’t do anything because it gets the world worried.
Also read: Jaishankar: Pahalgam Attack Meant To Create Fear Psychosis, Sow Religious Discord
“Now we are not going to fall for that. If he is going to come and do things, we are going to go there and also hit the people who did this. So no yielding to nuclear blackmail, no impunity to terrorists, no more free pass that they are proxies.
“We will do what we have to do. We must defend our people,” Jaishankar said. The audience broke out in applause.
Since Operation Sindoor, the Government of India has repeatedly clarified its stance of severe action against terrorism and terror-sponsoring nations.
Pahalgam attack: Economic warfare
Jaishankar described the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam as an act of “economic warfare.” It was intended to destroy tourism in Kashmir.
He referred to a history of attacks in the region. Now, the country says “enough is enough”.
Terror outfits in Pakistan that Target India do not operate in secrecy. He likened their infrastructure to corporate entities housed openly in urban areas.
These are terrorist organisations who have the ‘equivalent of their corporate headquarters in the populated towns of Pakistan,’” he said.
“Everybody knows the headquarters of organisation A and organisation B. Those are the buildings, the headquarters that India destroyed,” he added.
In Operation Sindoor, India successfully destroyed nine major terror launchpads, targeting Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahideen facilities. Over 100 terrorists were killed in action.
Trump’s Claims of Mediation
Jaishankar was also asked if President Donald Trump’s claim had impacted trade negotiations. Trump claimed to use trade to halt the recent India-Pakistan conflict. The focus was on ongoing trade negotiations between New Delhi and Washington.
“No, I don’t think so. I think the trade people are doing what the trade people should be doing. They negotiate with numbers, lines, products, and do their trade-offs. I think they are very professional and very, very focused about it,” Jaishankar said.
He said that India has a national consensus that “our dealings with Pakistan are bilateral”.
“And in this particular case, I can tell you something important. I was in the room when Vice President (JD) Vance spoke to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. This occurred on the night of May 9. He said that the Pakistanis would launch a very massive assault on India if we did not accept certain things”.
“And the Prime Minister was impervious to what the Pakistanis were threatening to do. On the contrary, he indicated that there would be a response from us. This was the night before. The Pakistanis did attack us massively that night. We responded very quickly thereafter,” Jaishankar said.
“The next morning, Mr (Secretary of State Marco) Rubio called me up. He said the Pakistanis were ready to talk. So I can only tell you from my personal experience what happened. The rest I leave to you,” he said.
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