New low even for Pakistan, says Foreign Secy

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri addresses a Ministry of External Affairs press briefing on Operation Sindoor, in New Delhi on Friday
| Photo Credit:
ANI

At least two school children lost their lives when a shell fired from Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) landed near Christ School in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed the fatalities.

Calling it “a new low even for Pakistan”, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, on Friday, said religious sites and places of worship were targeted with a specific intent. Civilian sites were attacked in an attempt to provoke violence, and to create communal disharmony, he said.

India, on the other hand, took a “responsible, non-escalatory approach again” while thwarting Pakistan’s attempts at incursion and attacks.

Death and Injuries

Misri said during heavy shelling across the Line of Control in the early morning of May 7, a shell fired from Pakistan landed just behind the Christ School run by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate congregation in Poonch. “Tragically”, the shell fired from Pakistan hit the home of two students of the Christ School, both students lost their lives, and their parents were severely injured.

Another shell struck a Christian convent of nuns, belonging to the congregation of the Mother of Carmel, damaging water tanks and destroying solar panel infrastructure. Priests, nuns, school staff and residents in an underground hall during shelling.

“We have seen the Pakistani side targeting and shelling places of worship with a particular design, which includes Gurudwars, these convents, and temples. This is a new low even for Pakistan,” he added.

Farcical Denial

Misri also slammed Pakistan’s farcical denial of its attempted strikes on Indian targets, calling it a blatant display of duplicity. He asserted that the Indian armed forces delivered a proportionate and decisive response to Pakistan’s provocation.

“Additionally, Pakistan’s irresponsible behaviour again came to the fore …. What I want to underline is that the farcical denial of these attacks by Pakistan carried out by the Pakistani state machinery is yet another example of their duplicity and the new depths that they are plumbing in their quest for disinformation,” he said.

Misri said, there is “a desperate attempt by Pakistan to dissolve its acts of aggression”; but it is also true to type in its effort to deceive and translate the world. “It will not succeed,” he added.

According to him, since the Pahalgam terrorist attack and subsequent attack on religious sites along with misinformation dissemination, Pakistan is “again trying desperately to impart a communal view to the situation with an intention to create disorder.”

“India’s steadfast unity in itself is a challenge of the Pakistan,” Misri said.

Published on May 9, 2025