Slamming Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition, for saying that briefing Pakistan at the onset of Operation Sindoor was a “crime”, the BJP has accused him of fake news.
The Ministry of External Affairs has also stated that an announcement regarding the timing of Pakistan being briefed was being misrepresented falsely.
Post of Rahul Gandhi on X
On Saturday, Mr Rahul Gandhi went on to X and posted a video of S Jaishankar where the External Affairs Minister has stated that in the initial stages of Operation Sindoor, which was undertaken on the intervening night of May 6 and 7, it was communicated to Pakistan that terror hubs alone were being targeted, and not military targets.
“At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying we are striking at terrorist infrastructure and we are not striking at the military. So the military has the option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice,” Mr Jaishankar can be heard saying in the video.
Criticism of the Government’s Actions by Rahul Gandhi
The Congress MP wrote that informing Pakistan at the start of the attack was a “crime”.
“EAM (External Affairs Minister) has publicly admitted that GOI (Government of India) did it,” Mr Gandhi said, asking who had authorised the sharing of the information with Pakistan.
Alluding to claims of Indian planes being shot down during the strike on the terror bases, Mr Gandhi also asked: “How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?”
BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari responded less than an hour later, posting a fact check from the Press Information Bureau (PIB) and calling Mr Gandhi out for spreading false news.
PIB Fact-Check on Misquoted Statement
The PIB, in a post on Thursday, had done a fact-check on a statement by a journalist in which he claimed that Mr Jaishankar had asserted that India had warned Pakistan prior to the initiation of Operation Sindoor that it would be targeting terrorist infrastructure in the country.
“The social media post falsely implies from External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar’s statement that India informed Pakistan before the start of #OperationSindoor. EAM is being misquoted and he has not made this statement. Remain vigilant and avoid falling for deceptive information,” the PIB said in the post.
Ministry of External Affairs Clarifies the Situation
The Ministry of External Affairs also issued a statement on Saturday evening and said facts were being misrepresented.
“The External Affairs Minister had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Op Sindoor’s commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,” the ministry said.
Details of Operation Sindoor’s Targets and Retaliation
India had targeted terror camps in at least nine places in Pakistan including the Lashkar-e-Taiba headquarters in Muridke and Jaish-e-Mohammed headquarters in Bahawalpur in Operation Sindoor, a retaliatory strike to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 individuals were killed.
Pakistan retaliated by trying to strike Indian military bases and civilian targets by sending drones and missiles on three consecutive days but was successfully repelled by India’s air defence systems. India, too, first destroyed some of Pakistan’s air defence systems, including in the city of Lahore, and then attacked important military bases such as the crucial Nur Khan airbase, or the Chaklala airbase.
Pakistan subsequently requested a ceasefire last Saturday and there was agreed on by India a temporary halt to hostilities. India, however, has stated categorically that it will take action forcefully against any terror attack that has its roots in Pakistan.
