‘Misrepresentation of facts’: MEA rebuttal to Rahul for targeting Jaishankar on ‘informing Pakistan about attack' claim

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), through its XP Division, issued a sharp rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi’s claim regarding External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar’s remarks on Pakistan. Clarifying the timeline, the MEA stated that Jaishankar had mentioned India warned Pakistan at the start—referring specifically to the early phase after the commencement of Operation Sindoor.

The MEA said this statement is now being falsely portrayed as if the warning was issued before the operation began. Calling it an “utter misrepresentation of facts,” the MEA emphasised the need to set the record straight.

“EAM Dr S Jaishankar had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor’s commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,” XP Division, MEA, said in a statement.

Citing a Jaishankar video, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at the government for allegedly “informing” Pakistan about targeting terror infrastructure as part of Operation Sindoor, saying it was a crime.

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi said, “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 air force lose as a result?”

He also shared an undated video of Jaishankar saying India had informed Pakistan of the action against terror infrastructure on its soil at the start of the operation.

Jaishankar can be heard saying in the video, "At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying, 'We are striking at terrorist infrastructure and we are not striking at the military.'"

“So the military has the option of standing out and not interfering in this process.”

Even PIB Fact Check also debunked the claim, saying “The social media post falsely implies from External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar's statement that India informed Pakistan before the start of #OperationSindoor.”

“#PIBFactCheck: EAM is being misquoted and he has not made this statement; Remain vigilant and avoid falling for deceptive information,” it said.