Here’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s statement on ‘Operation Sindoor’

The choice of de-escalation is with Pakistan as it escalated the situation with the Pahalgam terror attack and India only responded to it through ‘Operation Sindoor’, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Thursday.

His comments at a media briefing came amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

Misri said escalation started from that side (Pakistan) with the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.

“Our approach is not to escalate the situation, we only responded to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack,” he said.

On de-escalation of the situation, Misri said, “Pakistan escalated the situation, we only responded. Choice is with Pakistan.”

He said at the UNSC meeting, Pakistan opposed mention of the role of terror group The Resistance Force (TRF) when it had already claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack.

The foreign secretary also said the retaliatory actions of Pakistan are impacting civilians, referring to firings along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Pakistan’s reputation as the centre of global terrorism is rooted in various terrorist attacks across the globe,” Misri, flanked by Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofia Qureshi, said, adding Pakistan has been pursuing cross-border terrorism against India for decades.

He said India’s action on Wednesday was restrained and it was confined to terrorist infrastructure.

On Thursday, the Defence Ministry said the Pakistani military tried last night to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj but these attempts were foiled and a Pakistani air defence system was destroyed in Lahore.

Here’s the full text of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s statement on ‘Operation Sindoor’:

“Thank you. Friends, this is as I said, further to the briefing that was provided yesterday and some of the updates that have been just provided by Col Qureshi and Wg Cdr Singh.

I thought that we would just put some of the aspects related to the events that started on 22nd April with the barbaric terror attack in Pahalgam into further context, because there is a certain amount of commentary that has happened with regard to the events since then. And more than the commentary, there has been a lot of disinformation that has been directed at us from across the border. So, a few things that I would like you to keep in mind.

First of all, there is mention on all sides, of escalation. I think the first point that you have to keep in mind is the attack of 22nd April in Pahalgam is the original escalation.

यह जो सिलसिला है जो हम देख रहे हैं आज की घटनाओं को लेकर, यह 22 अप्रैल के पहलगाम हमले से शुरू हुआ है। एस्केलेशन वहाँ पर हुआ है। और उस एस्केलेशन का जवाब भारतीय फौज ने कल अपने एक्शन से दिया है।

Secondly, I want to invite your attention to the involvement of the group calling itself The Resistance Front in these attacks. I pointed this out yesterday that this is a group that is a known front for the well-known Pakistan-based terrorist organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group has been reported earlier. I mentioned to you about the Indian authorities providing information to the UN 1267 Sanctions Monitoring Committee. And, in fact, we are going to be meeting with the team again very soon and we will be providing an update to the information that we have provided earlier. But what is interesting,

दिलचस्प बात यह है कि संयुक्त राष्ट्र की सुरक्षा समिति ने जब पहलगाम के हमले को लेकर एक प्रेस वक्तव्य जारी करने की बात चल रही थी, तो आप सोचिए - किस देश ने टी.आर.एफ. का, दि रेज़िस्टेंस फ्रंट का उसमे मेंशन किया जाना , उसको अपोज़ किया - पाकिस्तान ने।

This was after the fact that the TRF claimed responsibility for this attack, not once but twice -within a few hours after the incident on the 22nd of April, and then again on the morning of 23rd April. And it is perhaps only after the full gravity of the incident was realised by its masters and handlers across the border that it was managed to back off from this claim. Obviously that retraction doesn’t convince anybody.

तीसरी चीज जो मैं आपसे कहना चाह रहा था, और कर्नल कुरैशी और विंग कमांडर सिंह ने कल भी बड़े स्पष्ट शब्दों में और आज भी आपसे यह बात साझा की है। जो भारतीय रिस्पॉन्स है वह नॉन-एस्केलेटरी है, प्रीसाइज़ है, सटीक है, मेजर्ड है और कन्सिडर्ड है।

Our intention has not been to escalate matters. We are only responding to the original escalations, as I said. And our response has been targeted, precise, controlled and measured. No military targets have been selected. Only terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan has been hit.

Now, there are, as I said, a number of issues that have been raised in commentaries and there is a lot of unfounded disinformation and fabrication that has come from across the border, and I would just like to use this opportunity to set the records straight on some of these issues.

The first of these is Pakistan trying to wash its hands off any and all involvement with terrorism. I think that the Pakistani Information Minister said there are no terrorists in Pakistan. And I think he was challenged on that in the television program in which he was appearing on.

But even if I partially repeat myself from yesterday, I think Pakistan's reputation as the epicenter of global terrorism is rooted in a number of instances where concrete evidence is available, not just to India, but to governments and authorities and agencies around the world. There are several terrorist attacks around the world where Pakistani fingerprints have been found. I don't need to deliver the point with regards to this audience about where Osama Bin Laden was found, and who called him a martyr.

Pakistan has also for decades pursued cross-border terrorism into India with impunity, and as I said yesterday also, in order to deliberately mislead the international community, they claimed that the terrorist Sajid Mir was dead. They came under pressure and Sajid Mir was then brought back to life, arrested, and is now apparently in Pakistani custody.

Pakistan is also home to a very large number of UN proscribed terrorists as well as terrorists proscribed by a number of other governments in the world, including of course the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, as well as their leaders, Masood Azhar and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

आपने देखा होगा हाल ही में, पिछले ही कुछ दिनों में, पाकिस्तान के रक्षा मंत्री और उनके पूर्व विदेश मंत्री दोनों ने इस बात को माना है कि पाकिस्तान का ऐसे ग्रुप्स के साथ जो रिश्ता है वह क्या रहा है।

Both the Defence Minister and the former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, I think, they have done a more eloquent job of this than I could ever do in terms of describing their country’s implication in international terrorism and their involvement in housing these kinds of groups.

दूसरा जो विषय है, वो है पाकिस्तान का जो एक दावा है की एक इंटरनेशनल एम्पार्शियल इन्वेस्टीगेशन होना चाहिए, एक जॉइंट इनवेस्टिगेटिव कमिटी होनी चाहिए।

These calls for jointly investigating this heinous and barbaric attack in Pahalgam. Again, I think you know the history well on this, you know the track record well, and it is not a bright track record in so far as Pakistan is concerned. In fact, in the pursuit of justice for the victims of multiple terrorist attacks, whether it be Mumbai in 2008, in Pathankot in 2016, or many others. But in particular for these two attacks, India had offered to cooperate. India provided forensic evidence, and urged Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice.

We, in particular with regard to the Mumbai attacks of 2008, where a Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist was captured alive; India provided extensive information and evidence related to the involvement of Pakistani terrorists in this attack. Cases were registered, but you are all aware that these cases have not progressed despite the formation of judicial teams etc., and Pakistan has consistently stonewalled all efforts to move the investigation along.

In fact, with regard to the Pathankot attack as well, a joint investigative team was formed. We gave unprecedented access to the Pakistani team to the site of the attack. Details of call records data, and DNA etc. was shared with Pakistan. We had shared with them, details related … that we had been able to access … the addresses of terrorists. We presented evidence against the office bearers of Jaish-e-Mohammad who had conspired in the attack, and the handlers of the terrorists who facilitated them, and guided them in. But there has been no movement on this.

So, in all of this, I think the experience has not been positive, and it certainly doesn't give us the confidence now to take at face value, Pakistani assertions of wishing to participate in a joint investigation. These are just delaying tactics. These are just stonewalling tactics.

And in fact, there is reason to believe that Pakistan uses the evidence that we provide only to cover its tracks, and in fact defend the terrorists who we are looking for, and obstruct the path of investigation.

A third point that I wanted to address was the claim that only civilians were killed in the strikes on the 7th of May. We have made the point very clearly that all attacks on the morning of 7th May were against carefully selected terrorist infrastructure, terrorist targets. It is not clear to us, in fact, seeing some of the coverage of the after effects of these strikes, including the funerals for the terrorists that were held yesterday … I think a lot of you have seen the reports and the coverage on media.

If only civilians were killed in these attacks, I wonder what message this picture actually sends to all of you. This is a question that is worth asking. It's also odd that the funerals of civilians are carried out with the coffins being draped in Pakistani flags, and state honours being accorded. As far as we are concerned, the individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists. Giving terrorists state funerals may be a practice in Pakistan. It doesn’t seem to make much sense to us.

Pakistan has also claimed that India deliberately attacked religious sites. This is completely false. Again, I have made it clear that the targets were terrorist infrastructure, terrorist facilities, and locations connected clearly with incidents of cross-border terrorism into India. And it is in fact Pakistan that is misusing religious sites as a cover to in fact radicalize, direct, and indoctrinate and train terrorists.

In fact, contrary to what Pakistan is claiming, yesterday Pakistan launched a targeted attack on the Sikh community in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, hitting a Gurdwara in Poonch and the homes of Sikh community members which came under attack. And we know that at least three individuals were killed in that particular attack.

Pakistan is also making attempts to, in fact just to add to this point, the retaliatory action that Pakistan has taken in fact is impacting civilians. I showed you the picture of the Gurdwara and the Sikh community members who were killed in this. There are other civilians also who were killed and injured in these attacks. In fact, since yesterday morning, a total of 16 civilians have been killed, and 59 others have been injured in the attacks by Pakistan.

Not only this, Pakistan is also making attempts in, as part of its disinformation campaign, to paint our action with regard to cross-border terrorism through the communal angle. If that is the issue, then I think I can do no better than to cite or point you in the direction of the Pakistan Army Chief’s speech of 16 April 2025. I think that is the last word in communal rhetoric.

And in the Pahalgam attack itself, you are aware of the kind of religious profiling that was done there, and perhaps there is a linkage between these two events. I can only say that these nefarious designs will not be allowed to succeed in India. And it is to be noted that people from all faiths, all religions, all regions in India have unequivocally, not just in India, but around the world, have condemned these attacks.

The Pakistani claims of now responding to India’s strikes of the 7th of May. As I said right at the outset, it is India which is responding. The original escalation was by Pakistan on the 22nd of April. We are the ones who are responding to that escalation with the action that was taken yesterday morning. And again, I would like to emphasize that the action was restrained; it was directed towards non-civilian, non-military targets; and confined to terrorist camps. And again, as we've been saying since yesterday, any further action by Pakistan, some of which we are seeing today is nothing but escalation by Pakistan now, once again, and will be responded to and is being responded to appropriately.

One point that I wanted to also address was the allegations to the targeting of a dam, the Neelam Jhelum project in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. I want to say that this is an absolute and complete fabrication and a blatant lie. India has targeted only, and only terrorist infrastructure. And the details of that terrorist infrastructure, together with the location was shared with you yesterday by Col Qureshi and Wg Cdr Singh. I should note that if this kind of claim is a pretext for targeting Indian infrastructure of a similar nature, Pakistan will be entirely responsible for the consequences that will undoubtedly follow.

Finally, I want to address some issues that have been raised related to the Indus Waters Treaty, and the disinformation that has been raised in this regard as well. The fact is that there have been fundamental changes in the circumstances in which the Indus Waters Treaty was concluded. And they required, they called for a reassessment of the obligations under the treaty. Over the last year and a half to two years, India has been in communication with the Government of Pakistan. We've sent several notices to them requesting for negotiations to discuss a modification of the treaty.

India has, for six plus decades now, honoured the treaty, even during periods when Pakistan imposed multiple wars on us, and even when relations were adversarial. Pakistan is the one that has been acting in violation of the treaty, deliberately creating legal roadblocks in India exercising its legitimate rights on the Western Rivers. Any projects that India sought to build on the Eastern Rivers, and even on the Western Rivers, which we are allowed to by the treaty, were always challenged by Pakistan, thereby, hampering our rights to utilise our legitimate waters under the treaty.

In fact, if you see the preamble of the treaty itself states that the treaty was concluded in a spirit of goodwill and friendship. Mark those words, concluded in a spirit of goodwill and friendship.

यह भारत का धैर्य और भारत की सहनशीलता है जो पैंसठ साल से हम इतनी प्रोवोकेशन के बावजूद इस ट्रीटी को निभा रहे हैं।

However, as has been made clear earlier as well, Pakistan has not responded to our request to enter into negotiations for a reassessment of the obligations under the treaty. A number of conditions have changed. This is a treaty that was based on the engineering techniques of the 50s and the 60s. We are living through the first quarter of the 21st century. Technological changes and technological advancements have to be taken into account.

There are demographic changes. There are climate changes that have taken place. There is the imperative of clean energy. And, of course, the terrorism that Pakistan has wreaked in the state of Jammu and Kashmir itself has hampered India’s ability to exercise its rights under the treaty.

Pakistan’s persistent refusal to respond to our request to enter into Government-to-Government negotiations on the modification of the treaty is in a sense itself a violation of the treaty. And, therefore, India has taken the step of putting the treaty in abeyance until Pakistan abjures irrevocably its support for cross-border terrorism.

“Maybe I’ll stop there. I mentioned earlier yesterday as well that this is an evolving situation. I would therefore ask all of you to be considerate and restrained. It will not be possible for us or my colleagues from the Armed Forces to share operational details at this point in time. Beyond that, if you have any questions, may I have time for only a few, and I’ll try to answer those questions.”

(With inputs from PTI)