India strikes on Pakistan ‘a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt’, says foreign secretary

India’s foreign secretary has said the strikes on Pakistan were “a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt”.

Explosions rang out across Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir overnight as India said it was targeting nine alleged militant hideouts in retaliation against the mass shooting of tourists in April last month in Pahalgam.

In a press conference on Wednesday (7 May), Vikram Misri said: “Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending. There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to preempt. Earlier this morning, as you would be aware, India exercised its right to respond and preempt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.”