Online Reporter
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan yesterday that New Delhi would target “terrorist hideouts” across the border again if there were new attacks on India and would not be deterred by what he called Islamabad’s “nuclear blackmail”.
Modi’s first public comments since Indian armed forces launched strikes on what New Delhi said were “terrorist camps” across the border last week indicated a hardening of India’s position on ties with its neighbour, which were icy even before the latest fighting.
Pakistan denies Indian accusations that it supports militants who attack it and says the locations hit by India last week were civilian sites.
Modi was speaking two days after the nuclear-armed neighbours agreed to a ceasefire, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The truce was reached after four days of intense exchanges of fire as the old enemies targeted each other’s military installations with missiles and drones, killing dozens of civilians.
The military confrontation began on Wednesday, when India said it launched strikes on nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir following an attack on Hindu tourists by Islamist militants in Indian Kashmir last month that killed 26 men.
Islamabad denied any links to the attack and called for a neutral investigation.
“If there is a terrorist attack on India, a fitting reply will be given… on our terms,” Modi said, speaking in Hindi in a televised address. “In the coming days, we will measure every step of Pakistan… what kind of attitude Pakistan will adopt.”
“India will strike precisely and decisively at the terrorist hideouts developing under the cover of nuclear blackmail,” he said, and listed New Delhi’s conditions for holding talks with Islamabad and lifting curbs imposed after the Kashmir attack.
“India’s position is clear: terror and talks cannot go together; terror and trade cannot go together. And water and blood cannot flow together,” he said, referring to a water sharing pact between the two countries New Delhi suspended.—Reuters
