‘We are at war with terrorists’: Indian envoy to US Vinay Kwatra says Pakistan has decided lend support to terrorism

Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra said India is at war with terrorists, and the world should be concerned that Pakistan supports terrorism. He said when India retaliated with precise, measured raids on terror factories in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, it assumed a sense of finality to it. However, Pakistan that regularly supports terrorists, decided to escalate matters by attacking India. 

When asked if India was at war with Pakistan, Kwatra said, “We are at war with terrorists and we will bring justice to the victims and hold them accountable.” His analysis came during an interview on CNN show, ‘The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown’.  

Negating assumptions that this is a war between Indian Hindus and Pakistani Muslims, Kwatra said, “I think it is Indian action against the terrorists, the ones who carried out the killings of the civilians. Our frame of reference in doing these attacks is holding terrorism accountable.”

“Pakistan has again decided to stand with the terrorists. Rather than take action against them, they are essentially lending them support. We wouldn’t be surprised if they are themselves involved in this but that’s the message they are telling: We are with the terrorists, we are not with the rest of the civilised world and humanity. Pakistan’s belief lies in perpetrating these proxies of terror killings, brutal killings, of innocent civilians,” he said. 

Kwatra said Pakistan’s denial of involvement in the Pahalgam terror attacks comes as part of its strategy of denial and obfuscation. “They have this unique characteristic where they assume responsibility for their past actions in the future, not in the present moment. 9/11…where was Osama Bin Laden found? World Trade Centre bombings of 93, the perpetrator of that, where was the killer of Daniel Pearl found, 26/11 Mumbai attacks, American nationals were also tied…where were those perpetrators found?” he said, citing Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif who had admitted to harbouring terrorism for the last 30 years, and doing the West’s dirty work.  

“Four terrorists, backed by Pakistan, killed 26 civilians. In no world will you give a free pass to terrorists like that, that’s what we did the day before yesterday. We carried out a very precise, calibrated, measured response to these factories, to the integrated facilities which they run out of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. The whole world appreciates that – that India should respond. Our attacks essentially were about bringing accountability to the terrorists and justice for the victims,” said Kwatra.

“When we attacked our assumption was that we did what we set out to do ourselves vis-a-vis the terrorists. We from our perspective had brought a certain finality to it but it was subject to whether Pakistan had brought finality to it. Pakistan chose to escalate it further. Now we are duty-bound to respond to that,” the ambassador said.