India, Pakistan tensions did not involve nuclear threats: Foreign Secy Misri informs Parliament committee

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday, May 19, briefed the Parliamentary panel on the the conflict between India and Pakistan that escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack. Vikram Misri informed the panel that the conflict between India and Pakistan was always in the conventional domain, highlighting that there was no nuclear signaling by Islamabad, PTI quoted sources as saying.

Sources also informed that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs unanimously condemned the trolling of Vikram Misri and also praised his work. The foreign secretary faced intense trolling on social media after India and Pakistan reached a ‘bilateral understanding’ on May 10 to halt all military actions. He was, however, backed by political leaders, former bureaucrats, and defence veterans.

Vikram Misri also reiterated the government's stand that the decision to stop military actions on May 10 was taken at a bilateral level.

As some Opposition members sought to know about US President Donald Trump's repeated assertions about his administration's role in stopping the India, Pakistan conflict on his social media posts, Vikram Misri said the US president did not take his permission to do so.

Some MPs, the sources said, asked if Pakistan used Chinese platforms in the conflict. To this, Vikram Misri said it did not matter as India hammered Pakistani air bases.

The meeting of Parliament's Standing Committee on External Affairs, chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, was attended by a number of lawmakers, including the TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, the Congress' Rajeev Shukla and Deepender Hooda, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and the BJP's Aparajita Sarangi and Arun Govil.

The meeting comes days after India carried out precision strikes at terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor. Islamabad then tried to breach India's air defence but failed. Both countries reached an understanding on May 10 to halt all military action.