New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday canceled his upcoming visit to Croatia, Norway, and the Netherlands in the wake of India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ against nine terrorist camps in Pakistan in the early hours on Wednesday. India’s air strike on nine terror camps linked to LeT and JeM was in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 innocent civilians were killed and several others were injured.
The Prime Minister was scheduled to visit these countries in Mid May. While the official reason for the cancellation of his visits has not been given it is presumed that the the step was taken in light of developments in the last few hours. Notably, Indian armed forces conducted missile attacks at locations of terror outfits LeT and JeM across Pakistan and Pakistani-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).
‘India exercised its right to respond’
Responding to the development, India said that it exercised its right to respond to Pahalgam terror attacks. I further asserted that the focus of Operation Sindoor’ was to dismantle terror infrastructure and disable terrorists in Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that actions conducted by Indian armed forces were measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible. “Despite a fortnight having passed since the attack, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan to take action against the terrorist infrastructure on its territory or territory under its control,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.
He added, “Instead all it has indulged in is denial and allegations,” he said “Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terror modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending. There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to preempt.”
Meanwhile, PM Modi chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet, hours after ‘Operation Sindoor’. He is also scheduled to chair a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) to stock of the evolving situation.
