NEW DELHI: India’s leadership on Wednesday reached out to members of the UN Security Council and strategic partners to explain the reasons for the strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and to make it clear that New Delhi will retaliate if Islamabad decides to escalate, people familiar with the matter said.
Soon after the military strikes conducted under Operation Sindoor that targeted bases of terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, external affairs minister S Jaishankar dialled his counterparts from France, Germany, Japan and Spain, while National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke to his counterparts from the US, China, the UK, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
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Doval told his counterparts from several countries that India is prepared to “retaliate resolutely” if Pakistan escalates tensions, the people said on condition of anonymity.
In his conversations with US NSA Marco Rubio, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, Russian NSA Sergei Shoigu, British NSA Jonathan Powell, Saudi NSA Musaed Al-Aiban, United Arab Emirates NSA Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Japan’s NSA Masataka Okano and Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to the French president, Doval provided a detailed briefing on India’s strikes against terror infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan, the people said.
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{{/usCountry}}“The NSA briefed his counterparts on actions taken and the method of execution, which were measured, non-escalatory and restrained. He emphasised India had no intent to escalate but is well prepared to retaliate resolutely should Pakistan decide to escalate,” a person said.
Jaishankar said on social media he had spoken with France’s Jean-Noël Barrot, Germany’s Johann Wadephul, Japan’s Takeshi Iwaya, Spain’s José Manuel Albares and Qatar’s Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and discussed India’s “firm and measured response” to cross-border terror. Jaishankar emphasised India’s “zero tolerance” policy for terrorism and appreciated the support from other countries after the Pahalgam attack.
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Japan’s foreign ministry stated in a readout that Iwaya called for a fair investigation and punishment of offenders of the Pahalgam attack. Iwaya also said Japan is concerned the recent events “could lead to further reprisals and escalate into a full-scale military conflict”, and urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and stabilize the situation through dialogue.
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri briefed the envoys of 13 permanent and non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, including Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong and Russian ambassador Denis Alipov. During the briefing, India pointed to the escalation by the Pakistani side and Islamabad’s efforts to shield The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the LeT that carried out the Pahalgam attack, the people said.
Misri reiterated India’s response was targeted, measured and non-escalatory and made it clear India will respond if Pakistan retaliates, the people said. The Indian side pointed that it had responded to a terror attack. The Indian side responded to a question on whether it had achieved its objectives by pointing that it had targeted nine sites with terror infrastructure, the people said.