Operation Sindoor was our response to terror from 'Terroristan', not India-Pakistan conflict: EAM Jaishankar

Jaishankar also said that India’s response to terrorism would not be deterred by ‘nuclear blackmail’ by Pakistan.

New Delhi: The ‘Operation Sindoor’ last month should not be seen as a conflict between India and Pakistan, but as India’s response to terrorism sponsored by “Terroristan”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, taking a dig at Islamabad, even as he called on European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, in Brussels.

He also said that India would strike deep into Pakistan if that was where the terrorists and the leaders of the terrorist organisations were based.

Jaishankar took the ‘Terroristan’ jibe at Pakistan while addressing a joint news conference with Kaja Kallas, the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, in Brussels after the duo held a meeting. “This is not a conflict between two states. This is actually a response to the threat and practice of terrorism. I would urge you not to think of it as India-Pakistan, but think of it as India-Terroristan,” he said, when a journalist asked him a question about the cross-border flare-up from May 7 to 10.

He also said that India’s response to terrorism would not be deterred by ‘nuclear blackmail’ by Pakistan. “We would never give in to nuclear blackmail,” said the external affairs minister.

Notwithstanding New Delhi’s repeated rebuttals, United States President Donald Trump has been relentlessly claiming that his administration brokered a ‘ceasefire’ between India and Pakistan to stop the cross-border military offensives and the counter-offensives between the two South Asian nations from turning into “a bad nuclear war”.

Kallas on Tuesday drew a parallel between Russia’s threat of using weapons of mass destruction against Ukraine and Pakistan’s “nuclear blackmail” to make the international community step in and urge India to exercise restraint.

“Nuclear threats cannot pay off. This is a mutual concern. In our case, we have seen Russia using it. We see different actors in the world using it,” the EU foreign policy chief said.

Jaishankar earlier alleged that Pakistan was training "thousands" of terrorists "in the open" and "unleashing" them on India.

"We are not going to live with it. So, our message to them is that if you continue to do the kind of barbaric acts which they did in April, then there is going to be retribution, and that retribution will be against the terrorist organisations and the terrorist leadership," he said in an interview with Politico. "We don't care where they are. If they are deep in Pakistan, we will go deep into Pakistan,” he added.

Jaishankar and Kallas led the respective delegations at the first India-EU strategic dialogue. “Held productive discussions on deepening our cooperation in defence, maritime security, counter - terrorism, cyber & AI, space and our defence industry collaborations,” the external affairs minister wrote on X, adding: “Also shared perspectives on Indo-Pacific, situation in Europe and West Asia”.

He conveyed to Ursula von der Leyen New Delhi’s appreciation for her strong condemnation of the April 22 terrorist attack near Pahalgam in J&K and for expressing solidarity in combating terrorism. “Discussed efforts underway to deepen the India-EU partnership. Agreed on the potential benefits of stronger cooperation in trade, technology, connectivity and security for both our regions,” he posted on X after calling on the European Commission president. “As political democracies, market economies and pluralistic societies, India and the EU share many convergences in an increasingly multipolar world.”