"If They Are Deep Inside Pakistan, We Will Go Deep Into Pakistan": S Jaishankar's Direct Attack

In some of his most direct statements on how India will continue to target Pakistan if it continues to back terrorists, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has said, "We don't care where they are. If they are deep in Pakistan, we will go deep into Pakistan."

Dr Jaishankar, who is on a week-long trip to Belgium and France was speaking to Politico. 

Responding to questions on the reported loss of Indian Air Force jets during the Op Sindoor operations, the Foreign Minister was direct: "As far as I'm concerned, how effective the Rafale was or frankly, how effective other systems were - to me the proof of the pudding are the destroyed and disabled airfields on the Pakistani side."

In a separate interview to the Le Figaro, Dr.Jaishankar said, "if terrorists attack India, we will hunt them down wherever they are, including in Pakistan. We have been very clear: as long as cross-border terrorism continues, we will retaliate and take all measures necessary for our self-defense. It's a basic duty to our people."

It was the success of India's military operations between May 7 and May 10 that Dr Jaishankar insists brought Pakistan to the ceasefire table. After hitting Pakistani terrorist camps in missile attacks deep within the country, New Delhi responded effectively to Islamabad's efforts at retaliatory strikes by striking a host of Pakistani airbases. Satellite imagery indicates that hangars, runways, underground facilities and command and control facilities were effectively struck.

Dr Jaishankar told Politico that the success of these strikes had a direct bearing on the outcome of Op Sindoor. "The fighting stopped on the 10th for one reason and one reason only, which was that on the 10th morning we hit these eight Pakistani, the main eight Pakistani airfields and disabled them."

New Delhi, which denies that the United States was instrumental in bringing the military hostilities to an end, says Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations called his Indian counterpart on May 10 and indicated that Pakistan did not want any further escalation of the conflict.  A ceasefire came into effect a few hours later.