India, the PM said, taught Pakistan a lesson it will remember for years.
- Pakistan, the Prime Minister said, was forced to plead for a ceasefire
- The country has been taught a lesson it will remember for years, he stressed
- Operation Sindoor, he emphasised, is still on
Reiterating the government's stand that the ceasefire on May 10 was agreed to after Pakistan pleaded for one, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said no leader from any country had asked India to stop Operation Sindoor.
Responding to the debate on Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam terror attack in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, PM Modi lashed out at the Opposition and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who asked why he had not contested US President Donald Trump's claim of getting India and Pakistan to agree to a ceasefire.
Revealing these details for the first time, the Prime Minister recalled, "We had said from day one that our action was non-escalatory. No leader in the world asked us to stop Operation Sindoor. On the night of May 9, US Vice President JD Vance tried to talk to me. He tried for an hour, but I was busy in a meeting with the forces. When I called him back, he told me Pakistan was planning a big attack. My answer was that if this is Pakistan's intention, it will have to pay a heavy price."
"If Pakistan attacks, we will respond with a big attack. I said "ham goli ka jawaab gole se denge" (we will reply to a bullet with a cannonball). On May 10, we destroyed Pakistan's military strength. This was our response and our resolve. Even Pakistan understands now that every reply by India is bigger than the last. It knows that if such a situation arises in the future, India can go to any extent. Let me reiterate in this temple of democracy: Operation Sindoor is still on," he stressed.
After the attack on terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir on May 7, the PM said, India made it clear its objective had been achieved. It was only when Pakistan stepped in to defend terrorists that the Indian armed forces taught the country a lesson it would remember for years.
"On May 9 and 10, our missiles hit every corner of Pakistan, something they had never even dreamed of. This brought Pakistan to its knees. It was after this that Pakistan called the Indian DGMO and pleaded: 'Bas karo, bahut maara, ab zyada maar jhelne ki taakat nahin hai. Please hamla rok do' (Stop this. You have hit us hard, we can't take it anymore. Please stop the attack). India had made it clear on May 7 itself that its objectives had been met. This had been decided in conjunction with the forces that our objectives were terrorists and their bosses," PM Modi said.
In the four days beginning May 7, Pakistan fired 1,000 drones and missiles at India, the Prime Minister said, adding that all of them were destroyed in the air.
"Terrorists are crying, their bosses and backers are crying and, seeing them cry, some people are mourning here as well," the PM said mockingly, in a clear attack on the opposition. The Congress, he said, had raised the bogey of "saffron terror" and tried to defame the country.
