‘It’s for responsible nations to reflect’
New Delhi: India on Tuesday said reports of Chinese support for Pakistan during Operation Sindoor corroborated what was already known and that responsible nations must reflect on how backing efforts to shield terrorist infrastructure would affect their global standing.
New Delhi’s comments came days after China confirmed that it provided on-site technical support to Pakistan during its four-day military conflict with India.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, responding to a question on the issue, said Operation Sindoor was a precise, targeted and calibrated response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam.
“We have seen these reports that corroborate what was known earlier. Operation Sindoor was a precise, targeted and calibrated response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, aimed at destroying state-sponsored terrorist infrastructure operating out of Pakistan and at its behest,” he said at his weekly media briefing.
“It is for nations who consider themselves responsible to reflect whether supporting attempts to protect terrorist infrastructure affects their reputation and standing,” Jaiswal added.
Last week, China, for the first time, confirmed that it provided on-site technical support to Pakistan during the conflict, according to Chinese official media reports. China’s state broadcaster CCTV aired an interview with Zhang Heng, an engineer from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s (AVIC) Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute.
The AVIC is a key developer of China’s advanced fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicle design. Zhang had provided technical support to Pakistan during the four-day war last May, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported, quoting CCTV.
Pakistan’s air force operates a fleet of Chinese-made J-10CE jets, produced by an AVIC subsidiary.
Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, Deputy Chief of the Indian Army Staff (strategy), on May 7 spoke about “collusivity” between Pakistan and China.
“The fact is that Pakistan and China in their own words have a relationship that is deeper than the seas, higher than the mountains, that’s a given. The fact that Pakistan has 80 per cent of its military equipment of Chinese origin is a given,” he had said at a media briefing.
In response to the Pahalgam terror attack, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year carrying out airstrikes on nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, eliminating at least 100 terrorists.
The strikes triggered a rapid escalation in tensions with Pakistan launching retaliatory attacks though most of them were thwarted by the Indian military. The hostilities ended with an understanding on halting military actions on May 10 following talks over the hotline between army officials of the two sides.
