Rahul Gandhi Slams Jaishankar, Calls His Statement a 'Crime, Not a Mistake'

In a post on X on Monday, Rahul Gandhi questioned, "Doesn't Foreign Minister Jaishankar's silence speak volumes? It is damning. So, I ask again: how many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan was forewarned?" He emphasized that this was not a mere error but a deliberate crime, reiterating the public's right to transparency.

Congress' media chief, Pawan Khera, echoed these sentiments, stating that Rahul Gandhi had raised critical questions about Jaishankar’s statement. Khera highlighted remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who claimed to have mediated to stop the conflict. Khera accused Jaishankar of engaging in "informing, not diplomacy," questioning whether this allowed terrorists like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed to escape. He described Jaishankar’s actions as falling into the "category of sin" and demanded answers from both the minister and PM Modi on why such sensitive information was shared, potentially allowing terrorists to flee.

The controversy stems from a video shared by Congress and Rahul Gandhi, purportedly showing Jaishankar admitting that India informed Pakistan about military strikes on terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) before the operation. However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday refuted these claims, stating that Jaishankar never said India warned Pakistan before the launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7. The MEA clarified that any communication occurred during the initial phase of the operation, not prior, and accused critics of misrepresenting facts.