“People to whom message was intended, hopefully got it”: Jaishankar on India’s response after Uri, Pulwama attacks

Drawing a comparison of India’s response after the 26/11 terror attacks and those in Uri and Pulwama, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that New Delhi showed that those behind these activities won’t be safe even if they have crossed the border.

He was interacting with industrialists at an open discussion on Viksit Bharat @2047 in the national capital. The event was organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI).

Addressing the event, Jaishankar said, “Look at our response to 26/11 in Mumbai and look at our response to Uri and Balakot. I think nothing can tell you more clearly, more sharply, because, you know, at the end of the day, the armed forces are the same, the bureaucracy is the same, the intelligence is the same. So if you look at what are the structural inputs and responses of the system, it would be the same.”

Jaishankar said that India’s response after the Uri and Pulwama attacks sent a “clear, direct message” and the people to whom it was “hopefully got it.”

“Something as big as 26/11 happened without a strong response from our side and that in many ways led to a feeling that this country can be punched and pushed…Uri and Balakot were meant to demonstrate that no, life will not go on and that there will be a price and don’t think because you’ve done something and run away to that side, that you are safe there,” the EAM said.

“You will not be safe there. It will not be safe across the Line of Control or international borders. So there was a clear, direct message out there and I think the people to whom that message was intended to be sent, hopefully got it,” he added.

A group of heavily armed terrorists from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba unleashed mayhem on the streets of Mumbai on November 26, 2008, spraying bullets on unarmed civilians at multiple key public installations in the city. The attacks left over 166 dead, including foreigners, and over 300 injured.

India carried out a surgical strike against terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in response to an attack at an army base in Uri, Kashmir in 2016.

In 2019, after the Pulwama attack — which killed over 40 Indian CRPF soldiers — the Indian Air Force carried out an airstrike against Pakistani terror camps in Balakot.