Indian envoy to UK slams Pakistan Army for giving state funerals to terrorists

New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) Vikram Doraiswami, the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, has hit out at Pakistan's Army for giving state funerals to proscribed terrorists, adding that India will respond in kind if Pakistan chooses to retaliate.

While speaking to Sky News' Yalda Hakim, Doraiswami pulled out a photograph of US-sanctioned terrorist Hafiz Abdul Rauf, who was accompanied by uniformed Pakistani Army personnel during a funeral for terrorists killed in India's 'Operation Sindoor' strikes.

Doraiswami said that in the last 30 years, the world should have compelled Pakistan to take down terror infrastructure on its soil, which it promised to do so but never did.

He added that the matter ends if Pakistan chooses to stop attacking India's military installations.

The Indian envoy said the original escalation of tensions was done by Pakistan-sponsored terror groups on civilians in Pahalgam on April 22.

He added that India's strikes in Pakistan were "precise, targeted, reasonable and moderate".

"We made it abundantly clear that the object of this exercise was clearly to avoid military escalation," he said.

"A fact that was actually acknowledged – in a left-handed way of course – by the Pakistani side in terms of their own statements, which said the airspace hadn't been violated."

"If you are going to give terrorists state funerals, what does that make of your system? Everybody knows that for the last 30 years, Pakistan has used this as a means of sub-critical warfare against India," he said.

"These are things that the world should have compelled Pakistan to do 30 years ago."

"If the international community really wants to be able to look at it and worry about it, the simple solution is to tell Pakistan it has an opportunity for an off-ramp," he added.

India's Ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, has said Pakistan's subsequent military action against India's Operation Sindoor was seen by India as a move to support terrorists, prompting further Indian counter-response.

"India's focus is to dismantle terrorism, hold perpetrators accountable, and ensure justice, not to escalate into full-scale war," he added.

He also said that India was not at war with Pakistan, but with terrorism.

"On April 22, four Pakistan-backed terrorists brutally killed 26 Indian civilians, including in front of their families. India views this as a heinous terrorist act,” he told CNN-News18.

“India carried out a precise, calibrated, and measured military response targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The strikes were intended to hold the terrorists accountable and deliver justice to the victims,” he further said.

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri used the same photograph of Pakistani officials attending funerals of terrorists, saying it contradicts the claim that those killed were civilians.

He remarked that giving state funerals to terrorists may be a practice in Pakistan, but it was not something that made sense to India.

Hostilities between India and Pakistan intensified on Thursday after Pakistan's military attempted to hit military stations in Jammu, Pathankot, Udhampur and some other locations with missiles and drones, all of which were neutralised by Indian armed forces.

Sirens blared and multiple blasts were reported in Akhnoor, Samba, Baramulla, Kupwara, and several other areas as the Indian military conducted an extensive overnight aerial surveillance operation along the border to deal with Pakistan's unprovoked attack.

India unleashed retaliatory strikes at Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, as well as Lahore and Sialkot, late on Thursday after thwarting multiple attacks on Indian cities, while also downing a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in Rajasthan.

Earlier on Thursday, India targeted air defence radars and systems at several locations in Pakistan, including Lahore and Rawalpindi. India destroyed the air defence system in Lahore, dealing a crippling blow to the Pakistan Army.

India on Wednesday launched Operation Sindoor, targeting nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to avenge the killing of 26 in Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had claimed responsibility for the killings.

--IANS

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