Crime Today News
The terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 was the “original escalation” which led to the current tensions between India and Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.
Misri said at a press briefing that India’s response to the attack was “restrained, directed at non-civilians, non-military targets, and confined to terrorist camps”.
The foreign secretary added: “Any further action by Pakistan, some of which we are seeing today, is nothing but escalation by Pakistan once again, and will be responded to and is being responded to appropriately.”
The foreign ministry briefing took place hours after the defence ministry said that Indian forces neutralised attempts by Pakistan to use drones and missiles to target Indian military installations in 15 towns and cities on Wednesday night.
This came after the Indian military on Wednesday carried out strikes on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. Nine sites were targeted during the strikes, which were codenamed Operation Sindoor.
The Pakistan Army retaliated by shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Sixteen persons were killed in the firing, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Earlier on Thursday, the Pakistani Army claimed it shot down 25 Indian drones that entered its airspace since Wednesday night, Al-Jazeera reported. Pakistan military spokesperson Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry claimed that drones were used on targets in the cities of Karachi and Lahore, among other places.
Pakistan said that one civilian was killed and four soldiers were injured in the drone attacks, according to Al-Jazeera.
At least 26 persons were killed in Pakistan in India’s strikes on Wednesday, reported AFP. Islamabad claimed that the strikes killed and injured several civilians and called the operation a violation of its sovereignty.
Misri, however, told the media that as far as India was concerned, those killed in the strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were terrorists. He showed a photograph purportedly showing a funeral of one of those killed, and questioned why he was “accorded state honours” and why the coffin was draped with the Pakistani national flag.
“Giving terrorists state funerals may be a practice in Pakistan,” the foreign secretary said. “It doesn’t seem to make much sense to us.”
This article first appeared on Scroll.in
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