Calling for an international coalition against terrorism, India's Ambassador to Israel JP Singh, has stressed that India's Operation Sindoor against Pakistan is "paused" and "not over". He has also demanded that Islamabad hand over key terrorists Hafiz Saeed, Sajid Mir and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, just like US handed over 26/11 mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana.
Narrating the incidents leading up to India's offensive, Mr Singh in an interview with Israeli TV channel i24 on Monday said that the operation was initially against terror groups in Pakistan.
"The terrorists killed people based on their religion. They asked people their religion before killing them and 26 innocent lives were lost", the Indian ambassador said citing the Pahalgam attack of April 22.
"India's operation was against terror groups and their infrastructure to which Pakistan responded by attacking India's military installations", he emphasised.
Asked if the ceasefire is holding and if it is the 'end of the matter' for India, Mr Singh responded by saying that "the ceasefire is still holding on but we have made it very clear that Operation Sindoor is paused, it's not yet over".
"The fight against terrorism will continue. We have set a new normal and the new normal is that we will follow an offensive strategy. Wherever terrorists are, we have to kill those terrorists and we have to destroy their infrastructure. So it is still not over but as we speak the ceasefire is still intact", he asserted.
Describing India's attack on Nur Khan base in the early morning of May 10 as a game changer, Mr Singh said that it created panic in Pakistan and their DGMO reached out to their Indian counterpart seeking a ceasefire.
On the question of suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) that Pakistan has described as "an act of war", the Indian envoy said that the two key words that guided the treaty were never honoured and India on the contrary was always battling against terror attacks emanating from Pakistan.
"IWT was signed in 1960 and the preamble of the treaty includes two key words - goodwill and friendship....Over the past so many years what we have seen (is that) we were allowing water to flow and what was Pakistan doing - they were allowing terror (attacks) to come on the Indian side", Mr Singh noted.
"There was a lot of frustration among people that this cannot go on like this. Our Prime Minister said that blood and water cannot flow together and that is the reason that we decided to put this IWT in abeyance", he added.
"Terror must stop", the Indian ambassador asserted for a treaty like this to be operational and Pakistan must stop cross-border terrorism.
"While IWT is in abeyance, another IWT is operational - Operation Sindoor is India's War Against Terrorism", he said.
Citing a long list of terror attacks in India that originated from Pakistan, JP Singh said that the "root cause are these two groups — Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba".
The leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba which was behind the Mumbai attacks in which several Jews were also killed, continue to roam free, he noted.
"They need to do a very simple thing - when the preamble includes goodwill and friendship, they just need to hand over these terrorists to us", the envoy stressed.
Pointing out that the United States recently extradited Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who was involved in the Mumbai attack, the diplomat who has also served in Pakistan in the past said that Islamabad could also do the same.
"When the US can hand over these culprits, why can't Pakistan hand over? They have to simply hand over Hafeez Saeed, Lakhvi, Sajid Mir and things will be over", he emphasised.
With reference to Pakistan's offer to investigate the Pahalgam attack, Mr Singh dismissed it, describing it as a deflection strategy.
"What has happened to the Mumbai attack? What has happened to the Pathankot air base attack? What has happened to the Pulwama attack," he questioned.
"We have given them dossiers after dossiers — we have given them technical inputs. America has shared with them evidence. Everything is there but what have they done", he asked.
"Lakhvi, who was the main planner of the Mumbai attack, is still roaming freely. Hafiz Saeed, the head of Lashkar-e-Taiba, planner and executioner of the Mumbai attack is roaming freely. So we can't believe them," Mr Singh said.
Contending that terrorism is a global menace, the Indian envoy called for greater cooperation among the countries faced with the challenge.
"At an international level all those countries including India, Israel and many other countries that face the brunt of terrorism, we need to expand our diplomatic reach, we need to cooperate, we need to form a coalition against terrorism and most importantly against the supporters of these terrorist groups" he proposed.
He concluded by saying that "our prime minister has made it very clear — very clear — that we have zero tolerance on terrorism. We are not going to accept this cross-border terrorism".
