India junks Pakistan's 'civilians killed in strike' claim: 'Coffins wrapped in flag?'
Images of personnel from the Pakistan Army at what reports said were the funeral of three terrorists killed in Indian military strikes surfaced on Wednesday.
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri on Thursday displayed picture of Pakistan army personnel attending the funeral of three terrorists killed in the Indian military strikes under Operation Sindoor and said it is “odd that the funerals of civilians are carried out with the coffins being draped in Pakistani flags and state honours being accorded”.
Vikram Misri made the statement at a Ministry of External Affairs press conference on Thursday evening.
India carried out military strikes at nine terror infrastructures under ‘Operation Sindoor’ on Wednesday in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, in which 26 civilians had died. India confirmed that several terror targets were eliminated in the strikes, which Pakistan claimed to be civilians.
Pak army personnel seen at terrorists' funeral
Images of personnel from the Pakistan Army at what reports said were the funeral of three terrorists killed during Indian military strikes surfaced on Wednesday
The funeral, held on Wednesday in Muridke — approximately 40 kilometers from Lahore — was also attended by members of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the banned organisation led by Hafiz Saeed, according to news agency PTI.
The three individuals — Qari Abdul Malik, Khalid, and Mudassir — were killed in a targeted strike on terror group’s headquarters in Muridke, carried out by Indian forces as part of ‘Operation Sindoor’.
The funeral was held under tight security and was also attended by members of Pakistan’s civil bureaucracy, the PTI report quoted Tabish Qayyum, spokesperson of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League, a political wing of JuD.
The funeral prayer was led by Hafiz Abdul Rauf, with prayers offered for the safety and security of the country.
India junks Pak's ‘civlian killed’ claim
Displaying the picture, Vikram Misri on Thursday at the MEA press conference said, "We have made the point very clearly that all attacks on the morning of May 7 were against carefully selected terrorist infrastructure, terrorist targets. In fact, seeing some of the coverage of the after effects of these strikes, including the funerals for the terrorists that are held yesterday, I think a lot of you have seen the reports and the coverage on media".
“If only civilians, if any civilians were killed in these attacks, I wonder what message this picture actually sends to all of you. This is a question that is worth asking. It's also odd that the funerals of civilians are carried out with the coffins being draped in Pakistani flags and state honours being accorded. As far as we are concerned, individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists, giving terrorists, state funerals, maybe a practice in Pakistan,” Misri added.
“It doesn't seem to make much sense to us,” he said.
Pakistan has also claimed that India deliberately attacked religious sites, Vikram Misri said, saying that this claim “is completely false again”.
“I have made it clear that the targets were terrorist infrastructure, terrorist facilities, and locations connected clearly with incidents of cross monet terrorism into India. And it is, in fact, Pakistan that is misusing religious sites as a cover to, in fact, radicalise, direct and indoctrinate and train terrorists,” Vikram Misri added.
