The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday strongly refuted claims circulating on social media that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had admitted India informed Pakistan before the commencement of Operation Sindoor.
In a statement, the XP Division of the MEA clarified that Jaishankar’s remarks have been “utterly misrepresented”. “EAM S Jaishankar had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor’s commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,” the MEA said, as per news agency ANI.
Rahul Gandhi Attacks Modi Govt Over Jaishankar’s ‘Informed Pakistan’ Remark
The clarification came after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a sharp attack on the Centre, alleging that informing Pakistan during the operation was a “crime”.
In a post on X, Gandhi questioned who had authorised the decision and linked it to the safety of Indian Air Force personnel. “Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our Air Force lose as a result?” said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Gandhi also shared an undated video clip in which Jaishankar is heard saying, “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.”
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) also weighed in, debunking the interpretation being circulated online. In a post by its Fact Check Unit on X, PIB asserted that Jaishankar had not made any such statement and was being misquoted.
Earlier this month, during a defence press briefing on May 11, DGMO Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai remarked, “Even though we did attempt to reach out and communicate our compulsions to strike at the heart of terror to my counterpart in the immediate wake of Operation Sindoor, the request was brusquely turned down with an intimation that a severe response was inevitable and in the offing. We were, of course, prepared…”
BJP Attacks Rahul Gandhi For Acting As Pakistan’s ‘Propaganda Tool’
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of acting as a “propaganda tool” of Pakistan and spreading “fake news” following his comments on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remarks related to Operation Sindoor.
Responding sharply, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari accused Gandhi of spreading misinformation and questioned whether the Congress was upset over the demolition of terror infrastructure in Pakistan during the operation.
“Stop spreading fake news, Rahul Gandhi,” Bhandari posted on X. He also shared a screenshot of a post by the government’s PIB Fact Check unit which had earlier debunked a similar claim, labelling it as “misleading”.
Bhandari further alleged, “Old habits die hard. Rahul Gandhi who was partying after the 26/11 Mumbai Terror attack, and who was officially quoted by Pakistani military in its press conference is back to question our forces.” He added, “Is Congress unhappy that Operation Sindoor demolished terror infrastructure in Pakistan?”
BJP IT department head Amit Malviya also condemned Gandhi’s comments, calling them a “blatant misrepresentation of facts.” In his post on X, Malviya said, “There’s a clear motive behind this distortion: Rahul Gandhi, who previously made baseless corruption allegations regarding the Rafale deal in an attempt to weaken India’s military preparedness, now finds it impossible to directly blame the Armed Forces. So instead, he is trying to divert the issue through shallow, misleading narratives.”
Clarifying Jaishankar’s statement, Malviya asserted that it was “quite clear” from the video that the minister had said, “we had warned Pakistan at the very beginning” — referring to the early phase after the commencement of Operation Sindoor. He added that the statement was being “falsely represented” as one made before the operation began.
“This is what happens when intellectually challenged individuals rise to positions of relevance purely due to lineage,” Malviya alleged.
Operation Sindoor was India’s offensive targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam on 22 April.
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