“We are only responding to the original escalations… Pakistan started lying as soon as it was born”: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri

New Delhi [India], May 9 (ANI): Noting that April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam was “original escalation" by Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Thursday that India has responded through precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK and further escalation is being responded to appropriately.

He also said Pakistan is a country that started lying as soon as it was born.

He also exposed Pakistan’s continued support for terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba through its proxy, The Resistance Front, and said that India’s measured military response has been limited strictly to targeting terrorist infrastructure.

Addressing a joint press briefing on Thursday, Misri that the terror attack on April 22 in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 people were killed “is the original escalation."

“I want to invite your attention to the involvement of the group calling itself The Resistance Front in these attacks. I pointed this out yesterday that this is a group that is a known front for the well-known Pakistan-based terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group has been reported earlier. I mentioned to you about the Indian authorities providing information to the UN 1267 Sanctions Monitoring Committee," he said.

“And, in fact, we are going to be meeting with the team again very soon, and we will be providing an update to the information that we have provided earlier," he added.

Misri said India’s intention has not been to escalate matters and only terror infrastructure in Pakistan has been hit through precision strikes carried out early Wednesday.

“We are only responding to the original escalations. Our response has been targeted, precise, controlled and measured. No military targets have been selected. Only the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan has been hit," he said.

He further recalled how Pakistan has been resorting to falsehoods since its inception in 1947, including its denial of involvement in the invasion of Jammu and Kashmir before the United Nations.

Misri said, “There is nothing surprising in it. After all, this is a country that started lying as soon as it was born. In 1947, when the Pakistani army claimed Jammu and Kashmir, they lied not to any random person but to the United Nations that we have nothing to do with it. So this journey started 75 years ago."

Citing Pakistan’s historical inaction in past terrorist attack investigations, Misri warned that any further escalation by the country would be met with a firm response.

“I think Pakistan’s reputation as the epicentre of global terrorism is rooted in a number of instances where concrete evidence is available, not just to India, but to governments and authorities and agencies around the world. There are several terrorist attacks around the world where Pakistani fingerprints have been found. I don’t need to deliver the point with regards to this audience about where Osama Bin Laden was found, and who called him a martyr. Pakistan has also for decades pursued cross-border terrorism into India with impunity," Misri said.

He added, “Pakistan is also home to a very large number of UN proscribed terrorists as well as terrorists proscribed by a number of other governments in the world, including of course, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, as well as their leaders, Masood Azhar and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed."

Misri also dismissed Pakistan’s call for an international probe and joint investigative committee into the Pahalgam terror attack, citing its long history of evading accountability in past cross-border terrorism cases. He highlighted how India had fully cooperated and shared substantial forensic evidence with Pakistan following the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot attacks–yet Islamabad failed to act on that information or move investigations forward.

“Pakistan claims and calls for an impartial international probe and a joint investigative committee into the Pahalgam attack. Again, you know the history well on this, you know the track record well, and it is not a bright track record insofar as Pakistan is concerned. In fact, in the pursuit of justice for the victims of multiple terrorist attacks, whether it be Mumbai in 2008, Pathankot in 2016, or many others. But in particular for these two attacks, India had offered to cooperate. India provided forensic evidence and urged Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice," he said.

“We, in particular, with regard to the Mumbai attacks of 2008, where a Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist was captured alive; India provided extensive information and evidence related to the involvement of Pakistani terrorists in this attack. Cases were registered, but you are all aware that these cases have not progressed despite the formation of judicial teams etc., and Pakistan has consistently stonewalled all efforts to move the investigation along," he added.

Misri said in fact, with regard to the Pathankot attack as well, a joint investigative team was formed.

“We gave unprecedented access to the Pakistani team to the site of the attack. Details of call records data, and DNA, etc. were shared with Pakistan. We had shared with them details related that we had been able to access. We presented evidence against the office bearers of Jaish-e-Mohammad who had conspired in the attack, and the handlers of the terrorists who facilitated them, and guided them. But there has been no movement on this," he said.

“I think the experience has not been positive, and it certainly doesn’t give us the confidence now to take at face value, Pakistani assertions of wishing to participate in a joint investigation. These are just delaying tactics. These are just stonewalling tactics," he added.

Misri dismissed Pakistan’s allegations that India deliberately targeted religious sites, calling the claims baseless and part of a broader disinformation campaign.

“Pakistan has also claimed that India deliberately attacked religious sites. This is completely false. Again, I have made it clear that the targets were terrorist infrastructure, terrorist facilities, and locations connected clearly with incidents of cross-border terrorism into India. And it is in fact Pakistan that is misusing religious sites as a cover to radicalise, direct, indoctrinate and train terrorists," he said.

“In fact, contrary to what Pakistan is claiming, yesterday Pakistan launched a targeted attack on the Sikh community in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, hitting a Gurdwara in Poonch and the homes of Sikh community members which came under attack. And we know that at least three individuals were killed in that particular attack," he added.

He slammed Pakistan for targeting civilians through shelling in border areas.

“Pakistan is also making attempts to, in fact just to add to this point, the retaliatory action that Pakistan has taken in fact is impacting civilians. I showed you the picture of the Gurdwara and the Sikh community members who were killed in this. There are other civilians who were killed and injured in these attacks. In fact, since yesterday morning, a total of 16 civilians have been killed, and 59 others have been injured in the attacks by Pakistan."

The Foreign Secretary spoke about India’s decisions concerning Indus Water Treaty.

“I want to address some issues that have been raised related to the Indus Waters Treaty, and the disinformation that has been raised in this regard as well. The fact is that there have been fundamental changes in the circumstances in which the Indus Waters Treaty was concluded. And they required, they called for a reassessment of the obligations under the treaty. Over the last year and a half to two years, India has been in communication with the Government of Pakistan. We’ve sent several notices to them requesting for negotiations to discuss a modification of the treaty."

He added, “India has, for six plus decades now, honoured the treaty, even during periods when Pakistan imposed multiple wars on us, and even when relations were adversarial. Pakistan is the one that has been acting in violation of the treaty, deliberately creating legal roadblocks in India exercising its legitimate rights on the Western Rivers. Any projects that India sought to build on the Eastern Rivers, and even on the Western Rivers, which we are allowed to by the treaty, were always challenged by Pakistan, thereby, hampering our rights to utilise our legitimate waters under the treaty." (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)

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