Operation Sindoor dismantled terrorist infra after Pahalgam probe revealed Pakistan link, says Foreign Secretary

Operation Sindoor: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that India launched Operation Sindoor on Pakistan early on Wednesday morning, exercising its right to respond to the Pahalgam terror attack and preempt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.

These actions were measured, non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible. They focused on dismantling the terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists likely to be sent across to India, Misri said at a press conference.

Indian armed forces carried out precision strikes at terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the government said early Wednesday morning. In all, 9 areas have been targeted, the government said in the statement, codenaming the strike ‘Operation Sindoor.’

The strike comes two weeks after the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's popular hill station.

The attack in Pahalgam was marked by extreme barbarity, with the victims mostly killed with head shots from close range and in front of their families. Family members were deliberately traumatised through the manner of the killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message, Mirsi said.

He said the attack was clearly driven by the objective of undermining normalcy returning to Jammu and Kashmir and designed, in particular, to impact the mainstay of the economy, tourism, with a record 23 million tourists visiting the Kashmir Valley in 2024.

Despite a fortnight having passed since the attacks, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan to take action against the terrorist infrastructure on its territory or on territory under its control, Misri said.

“Instead, all it has indulged in are denials and allegations. Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending. There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to preempt,” Misri said.

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi also accompanied Misri at the Press Conferece. The two officers breifed the media about the Indian strikes.

“The group calling itself The Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for the attack. This group is a front for the UN-proscribed Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba,” Misri said.

“It is notable that India had given inputs about the TRF in the half-yearly report to the monitoring team of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee in May and November 2024, bringing out its role as a cover for Pakistan-based terrorist groups earlier too. In December 2023, India had informed the monitoring team about Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed, operating through small terror groups such as the TRF,” he added.

The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, is behind Tuesday's terrorist attack in Pahalgam's Baisaran, said Misri.

The attack in Pahalgam – a popular tourist destination in South Kashmir's Anantnag district – was carried out on a day when US Vice President JD Vance was in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a state visit to Saudi Arabia. Modi cut short his visit and landed in Delhi on Wednesday morning.

“Identification of the attackers, based on eyewitness accounts as well as other information available to law enforcement agencies, has also progressed. Our intelligence has developed an accurate picture of the planners and backers of this team,” Misri said.

Pakistan's pressure to remove references to TRF in the April 25 UN Security Council press statement is notable in this regard, Misri sid.

Investigations into the Pahalgam terror attack have brought out the communication nodes of terrorists in and to Pakistan. The claims made by The Resistance Front and their reposting by known social media handles of the Lashkar-e-Taiba speak for themselves.

The features of this attack also tie in with Pakistan's long-standing record of perpetrating cross-border attacks on India, which is well documented and beyond question, Misri said.

“Pakistan also has a well-deserved reputation as a haven for terrorists from around the world with internationally proscribed terrorists enjoying impunity there,” he said.

In addition, Pakistan has been known to willfully mislead the world and international forums such as the Financial Action Task Force on this issue, Misri said.

“The Sajid Mir case, in which this terrorist was declared dead and then in response to international pressure brought back to life, found alive and arrested, is the most glaring example,” he said.