New Delhi: Reacting to precision strikes carried out by Indian armed forces on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan, US President Donald Trump at a press conference in Washington DC said he “knew something was going to happen” and expressed hope that the situation “ends very quickly”.
“It’s a shame, we just heard about it as we were walking in the doors of the Oval. I guess we knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past,” Trump said.
In an apparent reference to historical tensions between India and Pakistan, he added, “They have been fighting for many many decades and centuries when you think about it. Nah, I just hope it ends very quickly.”
Shortly after the strikes, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval spoke with his US counterpart and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to brief him on what India is calling ‘Operation Sindoor’.
Indian armed forces early Wednesday launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, targeting nine terror-related sites in Pakistan, including in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) in a statement described the strikes as a “precise and restrained response” to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack and said no Pakistani military facilities were hit, underlining a calibrated and non-escalatory approach.
A statement issued the same day by the Indian Embassy in Washington DC said 26 civilians were killed in the Pahalgam attack and that credible leads, technical inputs, survivor testimony and other evidence pointed to the involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists.
“It was expected that Pakistan would take action against terrorists and the infrastructure that supports them. Instead, during the fortnight that has gone by, Pakistan has indulged in denial and made allegations of false flag operations against India,” the statement read.
It added that India’s strikes were “measured, responsible and designed to be non-escalatory in nature,” with only “known terror camps” being targeted. No Pakistani civilian, economic or military installations were hit, said the statement.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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