‘State funerals to terrorists may be a practice in Pakistan’: FS Misri junking ‘civilians killed’ in Indian strike claim

Operation Sindoor 2.0: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on 8 May junked the Pakistan's claim that civilians were killed during India's Operation Sindoor citing the reported incident where designated terrorist attended the funeral of three terrorists killed in Wednesday morning strike. 

Mrisri held up the photo where Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a US-designated global terrorist and high-level Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, is purportedly seen leading funeral prayers for those who died in the Indian missile strikes.

Misri said it was odd that the ‘funerals of civilians’ are carried out with the coffins being draped in Pakistani flags. “It's also odd that funerals of civilians are being carried out with coffins wrapped in their national flag, and state honours are being accorded. The individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists. Giving state funerals to terrorists may be a practice in Pakistan, but it doesn't seem to make much sense to us,” he said.

The funeral, held on Wednesday in Muridke — approximately 40 kilometers from Lahore — was also attended by members of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the banned organisation led by Hafiz Saeed, according to news agency PTI.

The three terrorists

The three terrorists — Qari Abdul Malik, Khalid, and Mudassir — were killed in a targeted strike on terror group’s headquarters in Muridke, carried out by Indian forces as part of ‘Operation Sindoor,’ according to news reports. Government of India has not officially released the names or numbers of the dead in the strike.

Indian armed forces carried out precision strikes at terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the government said early Wednesday morning. In all, 9 areas have been targeted, the government said in the statement, codenaming the strike ‘Operation Sindoor.’

In one of the deadliest ever attacks on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed when a group of terrorists attacked Baisaran valley in South Kashmir's Pahalgam on 22 April.

“We have made the point very clearly that all attacks on the morning of May 7 were against carefully selected terrorist infrastructure, terrorist targets. In fact, seeing some of the coverage of the after effects of these strikes, including the funerals for the terrorists that are held yesterday, I think a lot of you have seen the reports and the coverage on media,” Misri said at the Thursday's presser.

“If only civilians, if any civilians were killed in these attacks, I wonder what message this picture actually sends to all of you. This is a question that is worth asking," he said.