Lying since birth: Foreign Secy Misri slams Pak's claim of downing IAF jets

The Pakistani claims were a reaction to India's Operation Sindoor which targeted nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)

Responding to a question about Pakistan’s claims of downing Indian fighter jets, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Thursday dismissed them as “lies", describing them as part of a long-standing pattern of misinformation dating back to Pakistan’s founding.

 

“After all, this is a country in which lies started as soon as it was born,” Misri said at a media briefing in New Delhi. “In 1947, when the Pakistani army attacked Jammu and Kashmir, they claimed it wasn’t them. They didn’t just lie to anyone — they lied to the United Nations.”

 

Calling the latest claims “an attempt to mislead the public", Misri said there was “nothing surprising” about the Pakistani attempts at misinformation.

 

 

The Pakistani claims in question were a reaction to Operation Sindoor — India’s counterterror strike launched in the wee hours of Wednesday targeting nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Operation Sindoor targeted terrorists: Misri

During the briefing, Misri reiterated that India's counterterror operation was a targeted and measured response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 people.

 

He added that it aimed solely at terrorist infrastructure and did not target civilians or military installations in Pakistan.

 

“There is a lot of disinformation directed at us from across the border. The first point to keep in mind is that the Pahalgam attack is the original escalation. The Indian armed forces have responded accordingly," Misri said, cautioning about the misinformation claims.

 

The MEA briefing came hours after the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar warned Pakistan against attempting any military attacks on India, saying it would be met with a "very, very firm response".

 

"If there are military attacks on us, there should be no doubt that it will be met with a very, very firm response," a government statement quoted the minister as saying.

 

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Defence said it had neutralised an air defence system in Lahore in a measured military response to Pakistan’s attempted drone and missile attacks on multiple Indian military installations across cities the previous night.