India's Foreign Secretary, Shri Vikram MisriIndia has insisted that the perpetrators and planners of the April 22 terrorist attack on Indian tourists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir be brought to justice.
Foreign Secretary, Shri Vikram Misri, noted that the attack, which left 26 people dead, was marked by extreme barbarity, with the victims mostly killed with head-shots from close range and in front of their families.
Misri, however, regretted that there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan to take action against the terrorist infrastructure on its territory since the attack.
“Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending. There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt,” he stated.
Misri noted that on Wednesday, India exercised its right to respond and pre-empt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.
“These actions were measured, non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible. They focused on dismantling the terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists likely to be sent across to India,” he noted.
He also cited the Security Council statement April 25, 2025, on the Pahalgam terror attack, underlining "the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice”.
Misri made the remarks when he addressed the media regarding the government's recent military operation in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.
Joining him for the briefing on India’s actions were Colonel Sofia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.
The latest attack in Pahalgam has understandably generated deep anger in Jammu and Kashmir, and in other parts of India.
Following the attacks, India responded with a set of initial measures relating to her engagement with Pakistan.
A group calling itself The Resistance Front (TRF) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“The manner of the attack was also driven by an objective of provoking communal discord, both in Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the nation. It is to the credit of the government and the people of India that these designs were foiled,” Misri added.
He said the attack was driven by the objective of undermining the normalcy returning to Jammu and Kashmir.
“In particular, it was designed to impact the mainstay of the economy, tourism, with a record 23 million tourists visiting the valley last year. The calculation, presumably, was that harming growth and development in the Union Territory would help keep it backward,” he added.
