Operation Sindoor is still on, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday in his first address to the nation after the operation got under way on May 7. He added that India “will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail” while acting against terror and its sponsor, Pakistan.

India has established a “new normal” in dealing with terror incidents — of responding to them in a language that the terrorists understood, he said.

Zero tolerance’Referencing the surgical strikes of 2016 and the Balakot air strikes of 2019 in his address, Mr. Modi said that zero tolerance of terrorism was the guarantee for a better world.

The Prime Minister said the cessation of hostilities at the moment between India and Pakistan should be seen only as a pause and that Pakistan’s actions in the next few days will be evaluated for any further action.

Mr. Modi clarified that talks with Pakistan would only take place on the issues of terrorism and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Talks and terror cannot go together, terror and trade cannot go together, and water and blood  cannot go together,” he said during the televised address.

Mr. Modi chose to sidestep U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that his administration had helped halt the conflict.

Referring to the presence of Pakistani Army officials at funerals of terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor, Mr. Modi said it had unmasked the fact that the Pakistani state was a sponsor of terror.

In future, India will not distinguish between terrorists and their sponsors, even if it was the Pakistani state. He also said the Pakistani state’s sponsorship of terror will ultimately lead to its own destruction.

Forces still on alert’

He lauded the role of the three armed services — Army, Air Force and the Navy — as well as the Border Security Force (BSF) in hitting targets in Pakistan within the first three days and also defending the country when Pakistan retaliated. “They are still on full alert,” he added.

This is definitely not a time for war but it is not a time for terrorism either, said the Prime Minister adding that the Indian armed forces had demonstrated that they are more than competent in 21st Century warfare.

He heaped praise on the made-in-India arms and armaments, which, he said, signalled to the world that India was ready.

Pakistan, seeing the destruction of terror camps and India’s ability to take the operations to their logical end, begged for a cessation of hostilities and approached India for it, giving assurances that they would act on terror and desist from attacks,” he said.

Alluding to the fact that Monday was Buddha Purnima, which marks the birth of Lord Buddha, whose teachings espoused peace and non-violence, he said the “way to peace also goes via exercise of strength”.

“India needs to be strong to live in peace, and it may need to exercise its strength in order to achieve it,” he said.

Source:The Hindu