India's BrahMos missile gave Pakistan 'sleepless nights', Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Friday as he poured yet more scorn on Pak, three weeks after Operation Sindoor - the country's armed response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in April.
In Kanpur to launch infrastructure projects worth nearly Rs 50,000 crore, the Prime Minister pivoted from the development of the state to lavish praise on the Indian military, declaring "we destroyed terrorist hideouts in Pakistan (by) going hundreds of miles inside (that country)".
"Our armed forces' heroic acts forced the Pak Army to plead to stop the war," Mr Modi thundered, picking up from similar speeches in his home state of Gujarat and Bihar, where his Bharatiya Janata Party is allied with the ruling Janta Dal United and faces an election this year.
In his Kanpur speech, the Prime Minister proclaimed Op Sindoor had showcased India's "military might" to the world, and reserved special praise for the BrahMos missile.
BrahMos had given the Pak Army 'sleepless nights', the PM claimed.
Mr Modi's BrahMos callout comes after Pak Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif re-confirmed this week that Indian missiles - fired on the nights of May 9 and 10 - struck several of its targets.
READ | "We Were Ready To Act... But India Launched Brahmos": Pak PM
The flurry of missiles, which included the BrahMos, caught the Pak military off-guard, Mr Sharif said in Azerbaijan. Pak, he said, had planned an attack just before the BrahMos struck.
Earlier in May Mr Sharif confirmed Indian missiles, including the BrahMos, had struck Pak's critical Nur Khan air base and other targets inside its territory in the early hours of May 10.
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The missiles fired by India were part of Op Sindoor, and in response to drones and missiles launched by Pak on the night of May 7. Pak's strikes, in turn, were after India disabled terrorist camps at nine locations inside Pak and Pak-occupied Kashmir, including the Lashkar HQ.
A proxy of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned terrorist group, had claimed the Pahalgam attack.
Hostilities were eventually stopped after a ceasefire on May 12.
Since then Mr Modi has been fiercely targeting Pak and its military establishment, warning both against resuming the conflict and demanding they dismantle terrorist infrastructure.
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On the question of resumption of ties with Pakistan, the Prime Minister has said Islamabad must first show proof of credible action against cross-border terrorist activities and the operation of terror groups from its soil, and vacate illegally-occupied areas of Kashmir.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly declared Operation Sindoor remains an active military exercise, with the Indian armed forces ready to respond to any terrorist attack or Pak strike.
READ | "Decided To Remove 'Terror Thorn' From India": PM Modi's Vow In Gujarat
In Gujarat the PM accused Pakistan of using terrorism as a weapon and of "waging war" against India, declaring "we have decided to remove the 'terror thorn' from India".
Forty-eight hours later, in Bengal, which votes next year, he said the country's armed forces had avenged the "audacity of terrorists" who insulted the dignity of Indian women.
READ | "Will Be Dragged Out Of Hole, Trampled If...": PM Likens Terror To Snake
And then, in Bihar later the same day, he unveiled dramatic metaphors describing Pakistan as a 'snake', and said, "If it raises its hood again, it will be dragged out of its hole and trampled..."
In Bihar too the PM was inaugurating development projects worth Rs 50,000 crore.
With input from agencies
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