Jaishankar says, ‘Warned Pakistan’; India Also Faced Cyber Attacks

After the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, on 15 May, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, '...even at the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan saying we are striking at terrorist infrastructure and not military and the military has an option to stand out and not interfere.' Indian defence expert Parvin Sawhney says he has never heard such a bizarre claim. Sawhney asks, ‘Did India expect Pakistan to stay quiet? This message cautioned the Pakistan Air Force to stay at maximum alert and Pakistan must have informed all world capitals of impending Indian air strikes.’ On 17 May, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament), Rahul Gandhi from Indian National Congress linked Jaishankar’s remark to probable losses suffered by the Indian Air Force. Gandhi asked, ‘How many aircraft did our airforce lose as a result?’ According to cyber security experts, India was not just dealing with escalation of hostilities on its northern and western borders, India was attacked in cyberspace too by state-backed hackers and hacktivists from Pakistan, Turkiye, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia, with backing from China. Apart from defence Public Sector Units and their vendors, critical infrastructure like ports, airports, power grids, Indian Railways and airlines were also hit. Meanwhile, on 14 May, after Pakistan returned Border Security Force soldier Purnam Kumar Shaw arrested from the Ferozepur sector, India also released a Pakistani Rangers trooper who had been in custody. On rumours about a possible nuclear leak at Pakistan's Kirana Hills—believed to be a storage facility for nuclear warheads in Sargodha district in Panjab, Pakistan—the International Atomic Energy Agency has clarified that there was no radiation leak from any nuclear facility in Pakistan. In the days of the hostilities, UK Member of Parliament and Chair of Defence Committee Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said, ‘We are very concerned. Recognizing our historic ties, it is incumbent on our govt. to be at the forefront of efforts to de-escalate tensions between two nuclear powered countries India and Pakistan’ (earlier coverage).