India says Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir’s provocative speech was likely trigger for Pahalgam attack

Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir - File Photo

India on Thursday strongly linked Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir’s recent remarks on Kashmir and 'two-nation theory' to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 innocent lives.

Addressing a press briefing on Operation Sindoor, under which Indian armed forces carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said: "Pakistan Army Chief’s speech from April was a communal rhetoric. There could be links between his speech and the Pahalgam terror attack."

On April 16, General Munir had reignited Pakistan’s hardline Kashmir rhetoric by calling it the country’s “jugular vein” and urged citizens to instill in their children the belief that they are “different from Hindus,” drawing sharp criticism for stoking sectarian sentiment.

Misri said the choice of de-escalation is with Pakistan as it escalated the situation with the Pahalgam terror attack and India only responded to it through Operation Sindoor.

Misri said escalation started from that side (Pakistan) with the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. "Our approach is not to escalate the situation, we only responded to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack," he said.

In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on terror targets including Bahawalpur, a stronghold of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group.

On Thursday, the defence ministry said the Pakistani military tried last night to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj but these attempts were foiled and a Pakistani air defence system was destroyed in Lahore.

Misri also said Pakistan was deliberately creating roadblocks over the years on the Indus Waters Treaty issue.