India Left 26/11 Unanswered. We Answered Pakistan With Uri, Balakot Strikes, Says S Jaishankar

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today said India is no longer what it used to be on the issue of defending herself.

At NDTV ‘Indian of the Year Awards 2024’, Mr Jaishankar recalled how the then government did not respond after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008.

“In the past, India left 26/11 unanswered. We have answered Pakistan with Uri and Balakot strikes,” Mr Jaishankar said.

India had launched a surgical strike using its special forces on terror camps deep inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), following an attack by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) at a military base in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri that killed 19 Indian soldiers.

The Indian special forces destroyed several terror launch pads in the surgical strike in September 2016.

The airstrike in Pakistan’s Balakot happened in retaliation after a JeM terrorist’s suicide bomb attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy killed 40 soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in February 2019.

The 26/11 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist strikes by 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists from Pakistan, who targeted key locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Leopold Cafe, Nariman House, Cama Hospital, and Metro Cinema.

Over three days of terror, 166 people including 20 security personnel and 26 foreigners were killed, while more than 300 were injured.

Following the 26/11 attacks, the Defence Ministry has said coastal security has been reviewed at appropriate levels and the Indian Navy has been designated as the authority responsible for overall maritime security, which includes coastal security and offshore security.

The Indian Navy, in this regard, is assisted by the Coast Guard, State Marine Police, and other central and state agencies for coastal defence of the nation.