New Delhi: Calling on the United States to tell Pakistan to stop “supporting terrorists”, India’s Ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra has described Operation Sindoor as targeting the “subhuman monsters, those worst of the worst”, who carried out the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
Kwatra made the remark in a rare media appearance for an interview to Fox News Wednesday, which comes as India continues to push its diplomatic case against Pakistan, following the 22 April attack, in which at least 25 Indians and one foreign national were killed.
In the early hours of Wednesday, India launched targeted strikes on nine terrorist complexes across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The precision strikes were “non-escalatory, measured, proportionate and responsible”, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said during a special briefing later.
A number of global leaders have come out in solidarity with India following the Pahalgam attack. On Wednesday, nearly all the leaders called for de-escalation after Operation Sindoor. US President Donald Trump said he hoped India and Pakistan would solve these issues very quickly.
In response to Trump’s position, Kwatra said, “We are truly, truly thankful to President Trump. I think the best would be if the partners in the US would tell the Pakistanis to stop supporting these terrorists.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, the US administration under President Trump had come out very strongly in favour of India. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said at the time that the US “stands” in solidarity with India, while Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence had labelled the terrorist attack as targeted killings of Hindus by Islamists.
Over a 100 lawmakers in the US then commented on Pahalgam, showing the bipartisan nature of ties between India and the US.
India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval Wednesday briefed his American counterpart Marco Rubio on the precision strikes. Rubio called on India and Pakistan to avoid further escalation.
India’s Operation Sindoor follows the punitive diplomatic measures it has imposed on Pakistan following the Pahalgam terrorist attack.
On 23 April, Misri had announced cross-border linkages to the attack, saying that New Delhi will hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, along with expelling three defence advisers and annulling the posts. India also reduced the strength of Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi to 30 from 55, while closing the Attari border and revoking the visas of Pakistani nationals.
A day later, Pakistan had introduced its own diplomatic measures against India, including its right to hold all bilateral agreements in abeyance, including the 1972 Simla Agreement.
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s National Security Council said that the strikes under Operation Sindoor constitute an “act of war”, and authorised its military to retaliate at a time and place of its own choosing. Islamabad has also increased cross-border shelling after India’s strikes, using heavy artillery weapons.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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