New Delhi: External affairs minister S Jaishankar’s remarks about Pakistan’s military on Saturday, seems to have struck a raw nerve in Islamabad. On Sunday, Pakistan criticised the remarks, saying its institutions, including armed forces, are a pillar of national security.
Jaishankar was speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi, when he said that much of India’s problem emanates from Pakistan’s military. He even went on to speak on the Pakistani military’s support for terror groups.
“Like there are good terrorists and bad terrorists, there are good military leaders and apparently not-so-good ones,” Jaishankar went on to say.
His comments were seen as a reference to Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir, who has now assumed charge of the entire military in his country.
“Pakistan categorically rejects and condemns the highly inflammatory, baseless and irresponsible comments made by the Indian External Affairs Minister,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Sunday in response to media queries regarding Jaishankar’s comments, as reported by PTI.
Andrabi went on to say that Pakistan is a “responsible” state and its all institutions, including armed forces, are a “pillar of national security.”
The conflict in May demonstrated the resolve of Pakistani forces to defend the country against any aggression in a “befitting, effective yet responsible manner”, the spokesperson said.
Andrabi criticised what he called the “attempts” to defame Pakistan’s state institutions and its leadership as a part of a “propaganda campaign.”
What he did not speak about is why Pakistani military officers in uniform were spotted at the funerals of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists killed in Indian strikes on May 7 this year.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in retaliation to the dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22 that resulted in the deaths of 26 people, mostly tourists from across the country.
India’s targets were terror facilities inside Pakistan and no civilian or military infrastructure were targeted. Despite India making this known, Pakistan launched missile and drone attacks that were foiled. The four day conflict finally came to an end on May 10 after India carried out precision missile strikes on Pakistani air bases, crippling several of them.
Pakistan was then forced to seek cessation of operations through a direct communication between the Director Generals of Military Operations of both countries.
On Sunday, defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke on Operation Sindoor and said: “Of course, we could have done much more had we wanted, but our forces demonstrated not only valour but also restraint, doing only what was necessary.”
Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh had earlier said that at least a dozen Pakistani military aircraft, including US-origin F-16 jets, were destroyed or damaged in Indian strikes.
