New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday clarified India’s stance on Pakistan’s ‘nuclear leakage’ claims regarding alleged damage to Pakistan’s nuclear facility in Kirana Hills during India’s Operation Sindoor.
The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said during the weekly press conference that Pakistan’s government officially denied these allegations on record.
“There’s talk of some social media posts about Egyptian, American aircraft, etc., but those questions are for them to answer, not for us. In the defence briefing, our side made things very clear as to what the target was, etc. The Pakistan Foreign Minister also has made some comments,” he said.
Clarifying India’s stance, Jaiswal said that the Indian military action was in the conventional domain, targeting terrorist infrastructure without escalating to nuclear threats.
“The military action from our side was entirely in the conventional domain. This was also made very clear in the defence briefing yesterday. There were some questions also which were asked. There were some reports, however, that the Pakistan National Command Authority will meet on 10th May. But this was later denied by the Pakistan FM. He himself denied the nuclear angle on record,” Jaiswal said.
Jaiswal reiterated India’s unwavering position against giving in to nuclear blackmail or allowing cross-border terrorism under the pretext of nuclear threats.
“India has a firm stance that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail or allow cross-border terrorism to be conducted, invoking it in conversations with various countries. We have also cautioned that their subscribing to such scenarios could hurt them in their own region,” he said.
This comes after Director General of Air Operations AK Bharti’s cryptic response about a possible strike on Kirana Hills in Pakistan has gone viral on social media. Bharti clarified that the Indian Armed Forces did not target Pakistan’s nuclear facility.
The Kirana Hills is supposed to be the nuclear storage facility and analysts claimed that the strikes led to certain leaks.
To this, Bharti said, “Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hill houses some nuclear installation. We did not know about it,” evoking laughter in the briefing room.
He later clarified, “Okay and we’ve not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there.”
India hit Nur Jahan and Sargodha airbases though, which conveyed the necessary message.
Recent satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies on Tuesday revealed significant damage to multiple air bases in Pakistan.
The images show damage to four Pakistani air bases: Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, PAF Base Mushaf in Sargodha, Bholari Air Base, and PAF Base Shahbaz in Jacobabad.