Did India Really Alert Pakistan Before Operation Sindoor? External Affairs Ministry Responds!

Clarification from the Ministry of External Affairs

New Delhi: On Saturday, the Ministry of External Affairs labeled claims made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as an ‘utter misrepresentation’ regarding External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's comments about India notifying Pakistan prior to the execution of Operation Sindoor on May 7.

This statement followed Gandhi's criticism, which implied that India had informed Pakistan before conducting military operations targeting terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The ministry's external publicity division clarified, stating, “The external affairs minister indicated that we had warned Pakistan at the onset, which refers to the initial phase after Operation Sindoor began.”

They further emphasized, “This has been inaccurately portrayed as a notification before the operation commenced. We are calling out this blatant misrepresentation of facts.”

In a social media post, Gandhi questioned who sanctioned the decision to alert Pakistan.

He remarked, “Notifying Pakistan at the beginning of our offensive was a serious error. The EAM has publicly acknowledged that the Government of India did this.”

Gandhi raised two critical questions: “1. Who authorized it? 2. How many aircraft did we lose as a result?”

He also shared a video of Jaishankar's remarks to reporters, where he discussed elements of Operation Sindoor and India's actions against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK.

Operation Sindoor, executed on the morning of May 7, resulted in the destruction of nine terrorist facilities in Pakistan and PoK, serving as retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.

All subsequent actions taken by Pakistan were in response to this operation.

An agreement to halt hostilities was reached by both nations on May 10, following four days of conflict.