New Delhi: Republican leader Nikki Haley has backed India’s decision to launch ‘Operation Sindoor’, saying “India had every right to retaliate and defend itself.”
India launched Operation Sindoor early Wednesday in retaliation to 22 April’s terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed. As part of the operation, India struck nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
A former US ambassador to the United Nations, Haley is the daughter of Sikh Indian immigrants and was born Nimrata Randhawa in South Carolina. She took the family name of her husband when they got married in 1996 according to Sikh and Christian traditions.
Haley on social media also called out Pakistan for playing “victim”.
“Terrorists launched an attack that killed dozens of Indian citizens. India had every right to retaliate and defend itself. Pakistan does not get to play the victim. No country gets a pass for supporting terrorist activity,” Haley wrote on X Thursday. Her post amassed over 3.8 million views.
Haley’s support for India comes after activist and a close ally of US President Donald Trump, Laura Loomer, declared on X: “India is going to win.”
Extending support to India’s fight against terrorism, House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson assured that the US will “do everything to support those efforts”.
“We have great sympathy for what’s happening there (India),” Johnson said in response to a question at a Congressional briefing in Washington.
“We want to stand with our allies. India is a very important partner to us in so many ways. India has to stand against terrorism as well. I think that’s all part of this relationship as it develops. The Trump administration clearly understands the importance of that relationship and clearly understands the importance of the threat of terrorism,” he added.
Meanwhile, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri Thursday held a press conference in New Delhi stating that the Indian military carried out a “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible” strike that was directed at terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan to “deter and to pre-empt” any further terror activities.
Misri noted that it was essential that the perpetrators of the 22 April attack in Pahalgam be brought to justice, as there was “no demonstrable” step from Islamabad against the terror infrastructure on its territory.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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