'Misrepresentation of facts': MEA clarifies EAM Jaishankar's 'warned Pakistan' remark

NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs rejected leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi 's accusations against external affairs minister S Jaishankar claiming that he informed Pakistan ahead of Operation Sindoor . Calling it a "misrepresentation of facts", MEA clarified that the government had warned Pakistan at "the early phase after Operation Sindoor’s commencement" and not before it.

The MEA external publicity division said that Jaishankar had stated that “we had warned Pakistan at the start which is clearly the early phase after Op Sindoor’s commencement”.

“This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,” the ministry said.

In the video posted by Rahul, Jaishankar was heard saying: "At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying, 'We are striking at terrorist infrastructure and we are not striking at the military.' So the military has the option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice." The matter caught attention after Kerala unit of Congress posted this video on social media demanding answers from the central government.

Before @ANI deletes the tweet, save the screenshot and please read the text carefully. @DrSJaishankar leaked the info to Pakistan about the strike. He is not worthy of staying as External Affairs Minister anymore.@narendramodi, ask him to resign and sack him today itself. We… pic.twitter.com/kyZSaLHFB1

— Congress Kerala (@INCKerala) May 16, 2025

The Congress leader strongly condemned this calling it a crime. "Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?" he said.

Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime.

EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it.

1. Who authorised it?
2. ⁠How many aircraft did our airforce lose as a result? pic.twitter.com/KmawLLf4yW

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 17, 2025

The Press Information Bureau's fact check unit however dismissed the claims and said that Jaishankar had been "misquoted". "The social media post falsely implies from External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar's statement that India informed Pakistan before the start of Operation Sindoor. EAM is being misquoted and he has not made this statement," it said.

The social media post falsely implies from External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar's statement that India informed Pakistan before the start of #OperationSindoor#PIBFactCheck:

▶️ EAM is being misquoted and he has not made this statement

▶️ Remain vigilant and avoid falling… pic.twitter.com/ox3QECwPrg

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 15, 2025

Operation Sindoor was India’s military response targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the aftermath of the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam.