"First Of All…": India's US Envoy Schools CNN Host Over Kashmir Remark
New Delhi:
Vinay Kwatra, the Indian Ambassador to the US, firmly corrected a senior CNN anchor during a live interview after he referred to parts of Kashmir as “Indian-administered.”
“First of all, I’m sorry, but let me correct you,” Mr Kwatra told Wolf Blitzer. “The entire Jammu and Kashmir is integral to the Indian part of India. The only issue to be resolved there is the return of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”
India’s Ambassador to the U.S., Vinay Kwatra, spoke eloquently with @CNN on Pakistan’s terrorism in Kashmir, detailing how Pakistan escalates conflict with India. Listen to his articulate remarks. pic.twitter.com/AHVZ5U2VNk
— Awasthi (@Awasthiii18) May 9, 2025
Wolf Blitzer’s comment came while discussing reports of explosions in the region. Responding to that, Mr Kwatra said that while India received reports of some activity, “We don’t have the operational details relating to that.”
During the same interaction, Mr Kwatra also spoke out strongly against the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people. Calling it “the most heinous terrorist act,” he declared, “Our foremost objective in this was to hold these lowlifes, subhuman monsters accountable and bring justice to the victims.”
Launching a blistering attack on Pakistan, he accused the country of siding with terrorists. “What it shows the world is that Pakistan has again decided to stand with the terrorists. Rather than take action against them, they are essentially lending them support,” he said. “We wouldn’t be surprised if they are themselves involved in this.”
He added, “That’s the message they’re sending to the world, that they are with terrorists, not with the rest of the civilised world, in these brutal killings of innocent civilians.”
Mr Kwatra’s remarks came days after India launched Operation Sindoor, striking terror bases across nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The operation, carried out in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack, killed over 100 terrorists, according to the Defence Ministry.
Speaking on the operation, Mr Kwatra said, “In no world would you allow such terrorists to be given a free pass. And that is precisely what we did [in Operation Sindoor].”
He described the action as “a very precise, calibrated, measured response to these terrorists, to their factories, to their integrated facilities, which they run out of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”
Addressing Pakistan’s denial of involvement in the Pahalgam attack, Mr Kwatra said, “Denial and obfuscation have always been the first part of Pakistan’s strategy.”
“They have this unique characteristic where they assume responsibility for their past actions in the future, not in the present moment,” he said.
Asked whether the world should be worried about rising tensions between India and Pakistan escalating into a nuclear conflict, the Ambassador said the real concern should be Pakistan’s continued support for terrorism.
