Beijing/New Delhi: India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has drawn parallels between the recent Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir and past assaults allegedly carried out by the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Speaking on Thursday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting in China, Singh stated that India, in exercising its right to self-defense and in an effort to prevent cross-border terrorism, launched "Operation Sandur" on May 7. The operation targeted alleged terror launchpads across the border.
"The objective was to destroy terror infrastructure located across the border," Singh said, reiterating India’s position that "terrorism and peace cannot go hand in hand."
The remarks follow the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Indian-administered Kashmir, where 26 civilians were killed by armed assailants. India had blamed Pakistan for the attack—an accusation Islamabad has consistently denied.
In response, India reportedly carried out retaliatory strikes on the night of May 6. These included missile and drone operations over several days, prompting an escalation in military exchanges between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
The hostilities came to a halt on May 10, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced that, following American mediation, both countries had agreed to an “immediate and comprehensive ceasefire.”
