- Friday, May 09, 2025
Both Vinay Kwatra and Vikram Doraiswami claimed that India’s action in response to Pahalgam attack was “precise, calibrated, measured response to these terrorists”
By: India Weekly
INDIA’S ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra has said that the country is at war with terrorists and will bring the perpetrators of Pahalgam terror attack and their handlers to justice.
“The frame and the template through which we look at is the terror template. April 22 was the most heinous terrorist act,” Kwatra said in an interview with CNN on Thursday (9).
The interview comes as India ramps up its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan following Operation Sindoor on May 7, when some terrorist installations located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were targeted.
“It is nobody’s case to say that these terrorists should be given a free pass, and that’s precisely what we did on May 7,” Kwatra said.
He claimed that India’s action was “a very precise, calibrated, measured response to these terrorists.”
“We are at war with the terrorists, and we will, as I said, bring justice to the victims and hold them accountable,” he said, answering a question about whether India is at war with Pakistan.
“Our foremost objective in this was (to) hold these lowlifes, subhuman monsters accountable and bring justice to the victims.”
‘Operation Sindoor’ was carried out in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians and for which The Resistance Front (TRF), a front for the UN-proscribed Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility.
He emphasized that the four terrorists were backed by Pakistan were involved in the Pahalgam attack.
Kwatra added that a large number of Congressmen, Senators in the US and other world leaders appreciate that India should provide justice for the victims of Pahalgam attack.
He asserted that the original escalation and the original breakout of tension happened on April 22, when four terrorists backed by Pakistan carried out “brutal, subhuman, monstrous kind of killings”.
He said the terrorists killed the civilians based on religion and targeted “non-Muslims”.
Kwatra said Operation Sindoor was in response to the attack and was done in a measured, calibrated, and proportionate manner.
Responding to a question on explosions being heard in Kashmir, Kwatra said Pakistan has again decided to stand with the terrorists.
“Rather than take action against them, they are essentially lending them support,” he said.
“We wouldn’t be surprised if they are themselves involved in this, but that’s what the message is,” which Pakistan is telling the world that it is with terrorists, it is not with the rest of the civilized world.
“Pakistan’s belief lies in perpetrating these proxies of terror killings, brutal killings of innocent civilians,” he said.
To a comment that Pakistan has denied involvement in the attacks, Kwatra said that “denial and obfuscation” has been the cornerstone of Pakistan’s strategy.
“They have this unique characteristic where they assume responsibility of their past actions in future, not in the present moment,” he said as he asked where was Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who plotted the September 11 attacks in the US, found… the killer of American journalist Daniel Pearl or perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks found?
Responding to a question, Kwatra said that with Operation Sindoor, “We, from our perspective, had brought a certain finality to it, but it was, of course, subject to whether Pakistan has brought finality to it. Pakistan chose to escalate it further. Now it’s duty-bound for us to respond.”
When asked how concerned the world should be that the tensions between India and Pakistan could escalate into a nuclear war, the Indian envoy said, “I think the world should be concerned about the fact that Pakistan’s support to terrorism and terrorist activities continues.”
“I think that’s what the world should be concerned about. And I think that’s what the world should tell Pakistan – to stop supporting terrorism. I think that’s the crux of the question,” he asserted.
When asked if he thinks it could get to the point of nuclear weapons, he said: “That’s for you to ask Pakistan for that.”
He also drew attention to what he called “Pakistan’s old habit of misinformation campaign.”
Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami has said that India’s response to Pakistan’s original conflict escalation with the terrorist attacks in Pahalgam last month was “precise, targeted” and focused solely on terror infrastructure.
However, Pakistan has chosen to escalate the matter instead of taking an “off-ramp” to end the crisis.
Doraiswami was interviewed by a series of UK media outlets on Thursday to present India’s stance on the rising tensions between India and Pakistan.
He told ‘Sky News’ that the international community can intervene by pointing out the opportunity for an off-ramp to Pakistan.
He also displayed an image live on air of US-designated terrorist Abdur Rauf leading prayers for the terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor, also presented during a briefing by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in New Delhi.
“Everybody knows that for the last 30 years, Pakistan has used this (terrorism) as a means of sub-critical warfare against India,” said Doraiswami.
“If the international community really wants to be able to look at this and worry about it, the simple solution is to tell Pakistan it has an opportunity for an off-ramp.
“These are things that the world should have compelled Pakistan to do 30 years ago, and to compel them to implement their promises about taking down this infrastructure. It has not done so,” he said.
Asked if India fears a further escalation of conflict in the region, the envoy asserted that the “original escalation” is Pakistan-sponsored terror groups attacking and shooting civilians in Pahalgam on April 22.
“Our response thereafter was precise, targeted, reasonable and moderate. It was focused principally and solely on terrorist infrastructure.
“We did not strike the Pakistani military establishment. We did not strike national infrastructure, and we made it abundantly clear… that the object of this exercise was clearly to avoid military escalation – a fact actually acknowledged in a left handed way, of course, by the Pakistani side in terms of their own official statements which said that the airspace hadn’t been violated,” said Doraiswami.
“The logical solution would be, as we’ve said repeatedly, for Pakistan to take the opportunity of an off ramp, which we have made abundantly clear, including this morning, that if Pakistan stops attacking our military facilities, the matter ends there, but it is for them to decide,” he said.
The High Commissioner was also pressed on media reports around Indian jets being allegedly shot down, claims that remain unsubstantiated.
“If it satisfies Pakistan’s ego to say that they’ve done something, they could have used that as an off-ramp to move on. But clearly they chose not to and they’ve continued to escalate the matter,” he added.
Indian-American Republican leader Nikki Haley has said that India had “every right” to retaliate and defend itself after the Pahalgam terror attack, asserting that Pakistan does not get to play the “victim”.
“Terrorists launched an attack that killed dozens of Indian citizens. India had every right to retaliate and defend itself. Pakistan does not get to play the victim. No country gets a pass for supporting terrorist activity,” Haley said in a post on X.
Haley is the former governor of South Carolina and served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations during Donald Trump’s first presidential term.
She was the first Indian-American appointed to a cabinet-level post in the US administration.
In an op-ed in the New York Post, she had said that as the US ambassador to the UN, she strongly supported president Trump’s decision to cut nearly $2 billion of military aid to Pakistan because that country supported terrorists who kill American troops. (PTI)
