India Warns Pakistan Against Escalation Amid Heightened Tension De-Escalation Up To You, Misri Tells Islamabad

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Any further military action by Pakistan is nothing but escalation and will be responded to appropriately, foreign secretary Vikram Misri warned on Thursday, adding the choice to de-escalate "is with Pakistan”.

Misri's grim warning came amid heightened tension and continuing shelling by Pakistan across the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Misri said the original escalation came with the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, and that India was responding in restrained manner.

"Our approach is not to escalate the situation, we only responded to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack," he said.

“Any further action by Pakistan, some of which we are seeing today, is nothing but escalation by Pakistan once again, and will be responded to and is being responded to appropriately.”

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On de-escalation of the situation, Misri said, "Pakistan escalated the situation, we only responded. Choice is with Pakistan." He said at the United Nations Security Council meeting following the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan opposed any mention of the role of terror group The Resistance Force when it had already claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 26 people.

The foreign secretary, flanked by Wing Cdr Vyomika Singh and Col Sofia Qureshi, said Pakistan's actions are impacting civilians in Jammu and Kashmir. Wing Cdr Singh said that Pakistan has increased unprovoked firing across the line of control.

“Pakistan has increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using mortars and heavy-calibre artillery in areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.

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"Pakistan's reputation as the centre of global terrorism is rooted in various terrorist attacks across the globe," Misri said, pointing out that Islamabad has been pursuing cross-border terrorism against India for decades. He said India's action on Wednesday was restrained and confined to terrorist infrastructure.

In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on terror targets including Bahawalpur, a stronghold of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group.

On Thursday, the defence ministry said the Pakistani military on Wednesday night tried to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai and Bhuj but these attempts were foiled and a Pakistani air defence system was destroyed in Lahore.

Misri reiterated that no Pakistani civilians were harmed in the Indian strikes under Operation Sindoor. On allegations regarding the targeting of a dam, Misri said it is“an absolute fabrication and a blatant lie”.

“Claim is a pretext for targeting Indian infrastructure of similar nature. Pakistan will be entirely responsible for consequences if this happens,” Misri said.

“Pakistan's reputation as the epicentre of global terrorism is rooted in a number of instances... I don't need to remind where Osama Bin Laden was found and who called him a martyr,” he said.

Pakistan is home to a large number of UN-proscribed terrorists and to terrorists proscribed by many countries, Misri said. "You must have seen in the last few days, their defence minister and former foreign minister accepted their country's involvement with such terror groups."

Misri, in a sarcastic jibe, rebutted Pakistan's claims that they had shot down five Indian jets – three Rafale fighters, a MiG-29 and a Su-30 -- during retaliatory strikes following India's military operation.

“There is nothing surprising in it. After all, this is a country in which lies started as soon as it was born.”

Pakistan's defence minister Khwaja Asif had cited social media as evidence of the alleged downing of Indian planes but failed to provide concrete proof when pressed, while India dismissed these claims as disinformation and pointed out that the images circulating were from previous unrelated incidents.

Misri said,“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.”

Misri junked Pakistan's claim that civilians were killed during India's Operation Sindoor citing the reported incident where designated terrorists attended the funeral of three terrorists killed in Wednesday morning's strikes.

Mrisri held up the photo where Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a US-designated global terrorist and high-level Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, is purportedly seen leading funeral prayers for those killed in the Indian missile strikes.

“It's also odd that funerals of civilians are being carried out with coffins wrapped in their national flag, and state honours are being accorded. The individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists. Giving state funerals to terrorists may be a practice in Pakistan, but it doesn't seem to make much sense to us,” he said.

The funeral, held on Wednesday in Muridke-approximately 40 kilometres from Lahore-was also attended by members of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the banned organization led by terror leader Hafiz Saeed.

The three terrorists-Qari Abdul Malik, Khalid, and Mudassir-were killed in a targeted strike on terror group's headquarters in Muridke, carried out by Indian forces as part of 'Operation Sindoor,' according to news reports. The government has not officially released the names or numbers of the dead in the strike.

“We have made the point very clearly that all attacks on the morning of May 7 were against carefully selected terrorist infrastructure, terrorist targets. In fact, seeing some of the coverage of the after-effects of these strikes, including the funerals for the terrorists that are held yesterday, I think a lot of you have seen the reports and the coverage on media,” Misri said at the Thursday's presser.

“If only civilians, if any civilians were killed in these attacks, I wonder what message this picture actually sends to all of you. This is a question that is worth asking," he said.

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