Rajnath Singh: Operation Sindoor achieved objective, was then ‘paused’ | India News

NEW DELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said in the Lok Sabha that the overall “politico-military” objective of Operation Sindoor was to punish Pakistan, which is fighting a proxy war through terrorism, and the operation was just “paused” when armed forces achieved the desired objective. The opposition, however, sought to corner him for abruptly ending the operation claiming it was done under US pressure and criticised the government for not sharing details of Indian jets that were downed during the conflict.“The objective of Operation Sindoor was not to cross the border or capture territory, it was to eliminate terror nurseries which Pakistan had nurtured for years, and provide justice to the innocent families who lost their loved ones in cross-border attacks,” Singh said while opening the debate in the House on Operation Sindoor.Singh termed opposition’s claims that the operation was stopped under pressure “baseless and incorrect” and said that on May 10, Pakistan’s DGMO contacted his Indian counterpart and appealed for a halt the operations. And after formal talks on May 12 between the two DGMOs, both sides decided to put a halt to the operations.On criticism of the losses allegedly faced by the armed forces, Singh said the opposition parties never questioned how many fighter jets Pakistan lost in the conflict. “In any exam, results matter, not whether the pencil broke or the pen was lost. Ultimately, results matter,” Singh said.He said the offer to halt the operation was accepted with the caveat that it was only paused, and if there was any future misadventure on the part of Pakistan, it would lead to its resumption.Speaking about the scale and extent of the operation, Singh said, “There were a number of options on the table, but we chose the option in which terrorists and their hideouts suffered maximum damage and common citizens of Pakistan did not suffer any harm. According to an estimate, over 100 terrorists, their trainers, handlers and associates were killed in well-coordinated strikes by our forces at nine terror infrastructure targets in Pakistan and POK with precision.““Our objective was never to wage war but to compel the adversary to bow down through demonstrative use of force,” Singh said, asserting that no soldier suffered any casualty. Launching a blistering attack on the government, Congress’ deputy leader in the House Gaurav Gogoi asked why India stopped the war and under whose pressure. Gogoi said home minister Amit Shah must take responsibility for the security lapses that led to the Pahalgam attack and asked govt to clarify how many Indian jets were downed during Operation Sindoor.Referring to Singh’s speech, Gogoi said the defence minister gave a lot of information but did not say how terrorists came to Pahalgam. “The country wants to know… 100 days have passed, but this govt has not brought terrorists to justice,” he said.“Who will take responsibility, the (J&K) LG? It is the home minister who must take responsibility. You cannot hide behind the LG. This govt is such a coward and is so weak that it even blamed tour operators for the Pahalgam attack,” Gogoi said.Gogoi said the Prime Minister had been stating post-Uri and after the Pulwama attack that “humne ghar mein ghus ke mara” and “we destroyed terror infrastructure”, and he is making the same remarks now.“They are still saying that Operation Sindoor is incomplete and Pakistan can do this again, then how is this a success? They themselves are saying our intention was not war, why was it not so? They say it was not to take territory, why was it not so? When will we take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, if not today, then when? The most horrendous terror attacks have happened under your govt,” Gogoi said.