NEW DELHI
:
Prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asserted that no world leader asked India to stop its armed response to the 22 April terror attack in Pahalgam, effectively rejecting US president Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he brought about a ceasefire between New Delhi and Islamabad that gave ammunition to the opposition to target the government.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Modi informed that Operation Mahadev, which began on Monday, had brought the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack to justice.
India’s Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the terror attack, was non-escalatory in nature, the prime minister highlighted. As many as 26 civilians were murdered by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, prompting India to launch retaliatory missile strikes on terrorists and terror-infrastructure across the border.
India made precision strikes against nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, killing about 100 terrorists. Indian officials have said the Pakistani forces lost 35-40 personnel, while India lost five soldiers. The hostilities lasted for four days during 7-10 May.
Operation Sindoor and India’s strategy
Modi’s clarification came after a 16-hour discussion on the success of Operation Sindoor on Monday where defence minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S. Jaishankar spoke about India’s military and diplomatic initiatives in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
“Our targets were clear. We wanted to target those places where the terrorists who attacked Pahalgam had received training and technical support,” said Modi. “We have said since the beginning that this was a non-escalatory move. Our policy was non-escalatation, our policy was to target terrorist infrastructure and terrorist leaders. And no world leader asked India to stop its Operation Sindoor,” he said.
Modi stated that US vice-president J.D. Vance had called on the night of 9-10 May to warn India about Pakistani retaliation. He, however, did not mention US president Trump in his address.
Trump has claimed on several occasions that he intervened to stop a potential nuclear war between India and Pakistan by leveraging trade deals with the two countries.
Defence preparedness
India’s homegrown weapons are now in demand across the globe after Operation Sindoor, and this was possible due to the policy of self-reliance in the country’s defence sector, said Modi in his approximately 105-minute address.
India was prepared for Pakistan’s retaliation after Operation Sindoor, he said. He added that India had warned Pakistan that any response would be deemed escalatory in nature and that India would respond appropriately.
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Modi said that the planning for Operation Sindoor started immediately after the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack, with top military and political leaders.
Indian homegrown defence systems thwarted a Pakistani attack of a thousand missiles and drones on the night of 9-10 May, he said, adding that there was no damage and no casualties in India from this attack.
He also said that India’s response to this attack, which targeted Pakistani military infrastructure, forced Pakistan’s director general of military operations (DGMO) to ask India for a ceasefire.
Made-in-India weapons
The PM also highlighted the growth of the country’s defence sector under his government. “We opened up the defence industry for the private sector and the response has been tremendous. The youth has participated in manufacturing and designing drones…even women, young women have led the charge in the sector,” he said.
Modi also added that strategic reforms as well as restructuring in state-run defence sector companies had helped the sector grow rapidly.
India’s defence exports have risen about 12% in FY25 to ₹23,622 crore, from ₹21,083 crore in the previous fiscal, according to a 1 April statement by the defence ministry.
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PM Modi reiterated that India has a new policy against terror where it will respond to terrorist threats at a time and with a method of its own choosing. He emphasized that India won’t succumb to nuclear blackmail, and that there would be no distinction between terrorists and terror-sponsoring governments.
Modi also said that Operation Sindoor was ongoing, but did not state further details.