Rajnath’s remarks on Operation Sindoor seen as attempt to shift onus
Analysts say India using rhetoric abroad to justify aggression
Rabat: India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s fresh remarks on Operation Sindoor have been viewed by observers as an attempt to shift blame for New Delhi’s failed military misadventure onto the armed forces.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Rajnath Singh, while addressing the Indian community in Rabat, Morocco, claimed that the armed forces were given “complete freedom” to respond to the April 22 Pahalgam incident and insisted that India’s actions were “measured and non-escalatory.” He said the strikes that followed were not based on religion but “on deeds,” quoting from Ramcharitmanas to justify the operation.
Analysts maintain that such rhetoric is designed to mask India’s aggression under the garb of counter-terrorism and to divert attention from the grave human rights abuses committed by Indian troops in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. They added that Operation Sindoor, which ended in humiliation for India in May, further exposed New Delhi’s readiness to escalate tensions in the region while blaming Pakistan for its own policy failures.
Meanwhile, Singh used his Morocco visit to highlight India’s defence industry expansion and claimed that New Delhi was poised to become one of the world’s top three economies. Rights defenders, however, point out that such boasts ring hollow when basic freedoms and human rights remain under constant assault in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
