Union external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar said the call for cessation of firing and military action was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan. Jaishankar’s comments made it clear that the understanding between India and Pakistan happened without international mediation, particularly from the United States.
‘If the Pakistanis want to stop firing, they need to tell us’
“The cessation of firing and military action was something which was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan. We made one thing very clear to everybody who spoke to us, not just to the United States, but to everybody, saying if the Pakistanis want to stop firing, they need to tell us. We need to hear it from them. Their general has to call up our general and say this. And that is what happened, “ Jaishankar said during an interview with Netherland-based broadcaster, NOS.
‘India has every right to respond’
The External affairs minister said that Pakistan used terrorism as its state policy and that India has every right to respond to any such threats. “If there are acts of the kind we saw on April 22, there will be a response. We will hit the terrorists, if the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them, where they are.”
‘It was intended to harm tourism which is the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy’
On the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jaishankar said, “We had the recent fighting between India and Pakistan. First of all, you got to understand what it was about, it started because it was triggered by very barbaric terrorist attack in the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 tourists were murdered in front of their families after ascertaining their faith and it was done in a way, in which it was intended to harm tourism which is the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy and to create religious discord. Deliberately an element of religion was introduced and to understand that, you got to also see on the Pakistani side, you have a Pakistani leadership, especially their army chief, who is very driven by extreme religious outlook that the way. So, there is clearly some connect between the views that were expressed and the behaviour that was done.”
‘India has identified the attackers’
Jaishankar said that The Resistance Front (TRF), a group created by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has taken responsibility for the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. He stated that India has identified the attackers and they are linked to LeT.
He recalled how India had informed the UN Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Committee about TRF in 2023, 2024 and 2024. He even showed the UN list to the journalist during the interview.
