Wuzhen, (China): India does not wish to see further escalation of the situation and will continue to act with responsibility and restraint, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told China and Russia here on Wednesday after alleged strikes indside Pakistan.
Swaraj defended India’s airstrikes on militant bases in Pakistan, saying that it was pre-emptive action aimed at stopping further attacks by Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM).
India on Tuesday claimed it bombed and destroyed JeM’s biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC) early Tuesday, killing a “very large number” of militants, trainers and senior commanders.
“In the light of continued refusal of Pakistan to acknowledge and act against terror groups on its territory and based on credible information that the JeM is planning other attacks in various parts of India, Government of India has decided to take pre-emptive action,” she said.
“The target was selected in order to avoid civilian casualties,” she said.
“No military installations were targeted. The limited objective of the pre-emptive strike was to act decisively against the terrorist infrastructure of the JeM in order to pre-empt another terrorist attack in India,” she said.
“India does not wish see further escalation of the situation and India will continued to act with responsibility and restraint,” she said.
Press Trust Of India
