“There Is Now A New Normal, The Sooner Pakistan Gets It, The Better”: India

The government today reiterated that Operation Sindoor has carved out a “new normal” in the fight against terrorism. “There is now a new normal. The sooner Pakistan gets used to it, the better,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister’s remark on India’s move to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

“We have seen the statement made by the Pakistani side. That a nation which has nurtured terrorism on an industrial scale should think that it can escape the consequences is fooling itself. The terrorist infrastructure sites that India destroyed were responsible not only for the deaths of Indians but also of many other innocents around the world,” he said.

India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ last week, hitting nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in a span of 25 minutes. The operation was launched in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, in which 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were shot dead by terrorists.

The operation was followed by days of military conflict between the two nuclear-powered neighbours, which ended after the two sides agreed on a ceasefire. The understanding, however, was brief as Pakistan breached it within hours. At present, despite the ongoing tension, the ceasefire appears to be mostly holding.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, meanwhile, has sparked a row with his remarks on the ceasefire with India. Mr Dar said the potential of the ceasefire to hold would come under question if India refused to reverse its decision to suspend the IWT.

“The National Security Committee (NSC) of Pakistan declared that if this treaty (Indus Waters Treaty) is tampered with, if the water is diverted, if the water is stopped, it will be treated as an act of war,” Mr Dar told CNN.