India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has clearly stated that the country will continue to take strong action against terrorists and their supporters, even if they are inside Pakistan. His strong words came during his ongoing visit to Belgium and France.

“We will go deep into Pakistan if needed”

In an interview with Politico, Dr Jaishankar said, “We don’t care where they are. If they are deep in Pakistan, we will go deep into Pakistan.” These comments reflect India’s firm stand after the military operations carried out under Operation Sindoor, which was launched following the deadly Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 Indian tourists.

He responded to a question about the effectiveness of India’s air force and whether Indian fighter jets were lost in the operation. He said, “As far as I’m concerned, how effective the Rafale was or, frankly, how effective other systems were — to me, the proof of the pudding is the destroyed and disabled airfields on the Pakistani side.”

“We will retaliate if attacked”

In another interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, S Jaishankar said, “If terrorists attack India, we will hunt them down wherever they are, including in Pakistan. We have been very clear: as long as cross-border terrorism continues, we will retaliate and take all measures necessary for our self-defence. It's a basic duty to our people.”

Dr Jaishankar added that it was the success of India’s military operations between May 7 and May 10 that forced Pakistan to agree to a ceasefire. He said, “The fighting stopped on the 10th for one reason and one reason only, which was that on the 10th morning we hit these eight Pakistani airfields, the main eight Pakistani airfields, and disabled them.”

Satellite images showed that India had struck major Pakistani military infrastructure like runways, hangars, and underground command facilities.

India also denied reports that the United States helped to stop the conflict. Officials said Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) contacted his Indian counterpart on May 10 and said they did not want the situation to worsen. A ceasefire was announced just hours later.

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