Jaishankar tells Quad leaders: 'Perpetrators of terrorism must be brought to justice'

Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar addressed a press conference after Quad leaders meeting in Washington and said the perpetrators of terrorism must be held accountable amd must be brought to justice. He said that is important because we have to communicate to the world that what we did on 7th May and the objective of Operation Sindoor is that if there are terrorist attacks, we will act against the perpetrators, the supporters, the enablers.

Here’s what Jaishankar said on Operation Sindoor

“With each of my counterparts, I have shared with them the sense that the nature of the terrorists challenge, the fact that we have confronted it over multiple decades and that we are very resolved today to respond to it very firmly and we have the right to defend ourselves...The perpetrators of terrorism must be held accountable, they must be brought to justice and that's important because we have to communicate to the world that what we did on 7th May, the objective of Operation Sindoor is that if there are terrorist attacks, we will act against the perpetrators, the supporters, the enablers. That message was conveyed with great clarity,” he said.

India sends clear message to world on terrorism: Jaishankar

He lauded India's Operation Sindoor outreach by the all-party delegations and the representatives of different political parties who formed a highly qualified group of leaders, saying they sent a unified message to the world, and that he is proud of them not just as a minister, but also as an Indian citizen.

“What we have communicated very clearly is we mean it when we say there is zero tolerance for terrorism...If you look back at the Prime Minister's address to the nation after the cessation of firing on the 10th of May, there were some very clear messages which came out of that...It's really for the terrorist groupings and for their sponsors to absorb and reflect on those messages. I don't think we are going to spell out if this happens, we will do that. I mean, no government does that," he said.

Quad countries launch Critical Minerals Initiative

The Quad countries have launched a Critical Minerals Initiative, which will focus particularly on mineral recovery, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.

Foreign Ministers of the Quad countries also discussed regional issues in the Indo-Pacific and the Israel-Iran conflict.

Addressing a press conference, Jaishankar said the discussions were largely devoted to enhancing delivery on various initiatives and projects.

"We launched the Quad Critical Minerals initiative and this would be focused particularly on the mineral recovery, which is very important for all of us. Second, there is the Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network that was launched earlier in the year and we decided it will hold its field training exercise very soon...Then there is the Quad at Sea Ship Observer mission. This involves our coast guards...Then there is a maritime legal dialogue at the expert level which will be held virtually later this month," Jaishankar said.