"Utter misrepresentation": MEA on Rahul Gandhi's charge against Jaishankar's "warned Pak" remark

New Delhi [India], May 17 (ANI): Callling it "utter misrepresentation of facts," the Ministry of External Affairs strongly rebutted Congress MP Rahul Gandhi accusations against EAM S Jaishankar that the government "informed Pakistan" ahead of Operation Sindoor.

Refuting the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha's charge, the MEA said that EAM had stated that the government warned Pakistan at "the early phase after Operation Sindoor's commencement" and not before it.

"EAM had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Op Sindoor's commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out," the external publicity (XP) division of the MEA said in a statement.

The MEA's response came after Rahul Gandhi posted a video on X (formerly Twitter), in which Jaishankar is seen speaking to the media on Thursday following the inauguration of the Honduras Embassy in Delhi.

In his X post, Gandhi alleged wrongdoing by the government, stating: "Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our airforce lose as a result?"

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 civilians dead. As part of the operation, Indian Armed Forces targeted terror infrastructure deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, eliminating over 100 terrorists linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen.

Following the strikes, Pakistan retaliated with cross-border shelling and attempted drone attacks. In response, India launched coordinated airstrikes that damaged key military infrastructure across 11 Pakistani airbases.

On May 10, both sides announced an understanding on the cessation of hostilities, restoring temporary calm along the border. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)