Pakistan army, economy to pay heavy price for every terror attack: PM Modi
PM Modi said Operation Sindoor was the embodiment of a new India that will strike at the heart of terror
JAIPUR: Pakistan and its economy will have to pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, asserting that Islamabad used terrorism as a weapon against India because it could never win in a straight fight.
PM Modi, who was addressing a public meeting in Palana, about 20 km from Bikaner on the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan, also declared that Pakistan will not get a drop of water from rivers over which India has rights, and that there was no scope for talks with Pakistan.
“Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack ... Pakistan’s army will pay it, Pakistan’s economy will pay it,” PM Modi said at his first public meeting in Rajasthan after Operation Sindoor, the pre-dawn strikes carried out by Indian armed forces in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7 following the May 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
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PM Modi said Operation Sindoor was the embodiment of a new India that will strike at the heart of terror, and make terrorists and their supporters pay a heavy price for spilling Indian blood.
“The shots were fired in Pahalgam but they pierced the hearts of 140 crore citizens. We vowed to finish the terrorists. With your blessings and the valour of our armed forces, we fulfilled our resolve,” he said.
“The world and the enemies of the country have seen what happens when ‘sindoor’ (vermilion) turns into ‘barood’ (gunpowder),” he said.
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“Those out to wipe out ‘sindoor’ were reduced to dust,” he said, adding that “not blood but sindoor runs in my veins.”
PM Modi said the armed forces were given a free hand, and they brought Pakistan to its knees. “Those who carried out the terror attack on April 22, we destroyed their terrorist bases in 22 minutes.”
He said Operation Sindoor was not revenge but a new manifestation of justice, it was the embodiment of the new India. “First we took the attack to their home… now we strike them outright,” he said, adding that this was India’s new policy to eradicate terror.
“First, India will give a befitting reply to any terror attack. The time, place and manner will be of our armed forces’ choosing and we will set the rules. Second, India has called the nuclear bluff and won’t be cowed down and third, India won’t differentiate between terror masterminds and governments that support terror. Pakistan’s bogey of state and non-state actors will not work anymore,” he said.
Modi underlined that India has proactively exposed Pakistan before the world and pointed to the nine delegations of MPs, and foreign affairs experts that will visit different countries to tell Pakistan’s reality to the world.
During the hostilities that followed India’s May 7 strikes, PM Modi said Pakistan tried to target Bikaner’s Nal Air Force base where he had landed from Delhi.
“Pakistan has also tried to make this a target but they failed to damage this airbase. There is a Rahim Yar Khan airbase situated on the other side of the border. It is in ICU. Don’t know when it will open? India’s forces have destroyed this air base.”
