Did India 'tip off' Pakistan before Operation Sindoor? MEA clarifies after Rahul Gandhi's remarks

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday clarified that S. Jaishankar's remarks on "informing" Pakistan about the Operation Sindoor were "misrepresented".

 

The ministry said the EAM's statement of warning Pakistan "at the start", which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor's commencement, was utterly false.

 

"This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out," said MEA. 

 

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi slammed Jaishankar for "informing" Pakistan in advance about India's military operation against the terror hubs. He alleged that the government had alerted Pakistan about the terror infrastructure to be targeted under Operation Sindoor and termed it as a "crime". 

 

"Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. Who authorised it?" asked Gandhi in a post on X. 

 

He also asked the government to release the list of the Indian Air Force's aircrafts lost as part of Operation Sindoor amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. “How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?" asked Gandhi. 

 

The Congress leader also shared an undated video of Jaishankar saying India had informed Pakistan of the action against terror sites on its soil. 

 

While referring to the call made by the Director General of Military Operations Lt General Rajiv Ghai to his Pakistani Major General Kashif Abdullah after the Indian armed forces struck its nine terror sites, Jaishankar told reporters that, "We had sent a message to Pakistan saying we were striking at terrorists' infrastructure." 

 

"We are not striking at the military. So the military has an option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice," he added. 

 

Meanwhile, the Press Information Bureau has also refuted claims that Jaishankar had said India informed Pakistan ahead of Operation Sindoor. PIB's Fact Check Unit said that the minister was being "misquoted". 

 

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists. In retaliation, India launched Operation Sindoor against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the early hours of May 7. 

India