India Rejects Pakistan’s Civilian Casualty Claim: ‘Why Were Coffins Wrapped in National Flag?’

India Rejects Pakistan’s Civilian Casualty Claim: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri displayed an image of Pakistan Army personnel attending the funeral of three terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor Indian military strikes and commented that it is "strange that the funerals of civilians are conducted with the coffins draped in Pakistani flags and honour from the State".

Vikram Misri made this comment at a Ministry of External Affairs press briefing on Thursday evening.

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As a response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians were killed, India conducted military strikes on nine terror infrastructures as part of 'Operation Sindoor' on Wednesday. India confirmed that numerous terror targets were struck and eliminated, which Pakistan characterised as civilians.

Pak army personnel seen at terrorists' funeral

Although images were circulated of personnel from the Pakistan Army from what reports stated were the funeral of three terrorists killed by Indian military strikes on Wednesday, the funeral was taking place on Wednesday, in Muridke (roughly 40 kilometers from Lahore) and was also attended members of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the banned organisation of Hafiz Saeed.

The three men – Qari Abdul Malik, Khalid, and Mudassir – were executed in a planned hit on a headquarters of the terror group in Muridke, at the hands of Indian forces, as part of "Operation Sindoor".

A funeral was held under tight security and Pakistan's civil bureaucracy members also attended, the PTI report cited Tabish Qayyum, a spokesperson of Pakistan Markazi Muslim League, a political wing of JuD.

The funeral prayer was led by Hafiz Abdul Rauf, who stated prayers for the safety and security of the country.

India junks Pak's ‘civlian killed’ claim

Displaying the picture, Vikram Misri on Thursday at the MEA press conference said, "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".

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“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. It's also odd that the funerals of civilians are carried out with the coffins being draped in Pakistani flags and state honours being accorded. As far as we are concerned, individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists, giving terrorists, state funerals, maybe a practice in Pakistan,” Misri added.

“It doesn't seem to make much sense to us,” he said.

Pakistan has also claimed that India attacked, on purpose, places of worship, which Vikram Misri said is "this claim is once again completely false".

“I have made it clear that the targets were terrorist infrastructure, terrorist facilities, and locations connected clearly with incidents of cross monet terrorism into India. And it is, in fact, Pakistan that is misusing religious sites as a cover to, in fact, radicalise, direct and indoctrinate and train terrorists,” Vikram Misri added.

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