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Newsmakers of the Week MAY 23, 2025 | The Indian Eye 30

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

Selected stories about Indian diaspora from our website www.theindianeye.com

VINAY KWATRA RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI

Ambassador justifies Indian Congressman cites urgent need to

strikes as “Pakistan is combat terrorism

with terrorists”

ndia’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, defended the country’s re- n response to the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam and rising region-
cent cross-border strikes, stating they were a direct response to a deadly al tensions, US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi highlighted the need
Iterror attack carried out by terrorists in Pahalgam on April 22. Ito combat terrorism and prevent future violence, which has become even
Speaking about Operation Sindoor, Kwatra emphasised that the opera- more “urgent.”
tion was carefully calibrated to avoid military and economic targets, under- “In the wake of last month’s horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam, the
scoring that the strikes were aimed solely at dismantling terror networks. need to combat terrorism and prevent future violence has become even more
Accusing the country of siding with terrorists, Kwatra said that “Pakistan urgent,” Krishnamoorthi said.
has again decided to stand with the terrorists... rather than acting against He emphasised the importance of avoiding broader conflict and further
them, they are lending support.” escalation. “It is essential to avoid broader conflict and further escalation,” he
In an interview with CNN, Kwatra said, “When you talk of tensions or stated, referencing Secretary Rubio’s comments.
when you talk of escalations, I would say that the original escalation happened Krishnamoorthi also called on Pakistan to take specific action. “At the
on April 22, when you had four terrorists backed by Pakistan carry out brutal same time, Pakistan must release former Prime Minister Imran Khan and
killings... What we did yesterday was our response to terror... We took out ensure free and fair elections that uphold democratic values and give voice to
terror factories at nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir... the will of the Pakistani people,” he said.
We were very careful in excluding the military establishment and economic He added that “the current situation should not be used as a pretext to
infrastructure.” further undermine democracy in Pakistan.”
He added, “Pakistan has again decided to side with the terrorists. Rather Further, US Congressman Rich McCormick also commented on the re-
than taking action against them, they are essentially lending them support... cent missile strike by India on Pakistani soil, targeting terrorists and said that
They are with the terrorists” “India has the right to defend itself.”
Kwatra said that Pakistan is not with the rest of the civilised world, and “When it comes to the recent missile strike on Pakistani soil on terrorists
Pakistan’s belief lies in perpetrating these proxies of terror. by India, I would like to say that India has the right to defend itself against
Indian Armed Forces on Wednesday launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, terrorists just like the United States did. With that said, we have to be careful
carrying out precision strikes on nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Paki- because we’re talking about two peer adversaries with nuclear power and nu-
stan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), days after the deadly terror at- clear arms,” McCormick said.
tack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people on April 22. “We want to make sure that we don’t alienate either nation in this con-
Earlier in the day, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that the Pahal- flict, but that we stand resolute together against terrorism abroad,” he added.
gam terror attack was “original escalation” by Pakistan and India responded In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Indian Armed Forces
in “controlled, precise, measured, considered and non-escalatory” manner launched a strike at the terror hideouts deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan Occu-
through precise strikes on terror infrastructure early on Wednesday. pied Jammu and Kashmir under ‘Operation Sindoor’ on Wednesday morning.
Addressing a joint press conference on Thursday, Misri said that India’s Wing Commander Vyomika Singh informed that a total of nine terror
intention is not to escalate matters and is only responding to the escalation. sites were targeted and successfully destroyed. She asserted that the locations
“Pakistan escalated on April 22, we are only responding to escalation. If were selected so that there was no damage to civilians and their infrastructure.
further escalation, the response will be in the appropriate domain,” Misri said. Continued on next page... >>

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