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India reacts to China supporting Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, says ‘it's for responsible nations to reflect’
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India confirms reports of China's support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, a response to the Pahalgam terror attacks. Ministry spokesperson Jaiswal emphasizes the need for responsible nations to consider the implications of aiding terrorist infrastructure.New Delhi, May 12 (ANI): MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal addresses a press briefing on the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI Video Grab)(ANI Video Grab)India on Tuesday said that reports of China supporting Pakistan during Operation Sindoor corroborate what was known earlier and it is for nations that consider themselves responsible to reflect whether supporting attempts to protect terrorist infrastructure affects their standing.Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated this while responding to a question on Chinese official media reports that admitted to Beijing providing technical support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor carried out by India in May 2025 to avenge the Pahalgam terror attacks."We have seen these reports that corroborate what was known earlier. Operation Sindoor was a precise, targeted and calibrated response to the terrorist attacks in Pahalgam, aimed at destroying state-sponsored terrorist infrastructure operating out of Pakistan and at its behest," Jaiswal said at the press briefing."It is for nations who consider themselves responsible to reflect whether supporting attempts to protect terrorist infrastructure affects their reputation and standing," he said.What did China say?According to the South China Morning Post, China has confirmed that it assisted Pakistan by providing on-site technical support during its war with India last year. According to the report, during the conflict, a Chinese-made fighter shot down at least one of India’s French-made fighter jets.In an interview with China's state broadcaster CCTV, Zhang Heng, an engineer from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s (AVIC) Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, a key developer of China’s advanced fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicle design, said that he had provided technical support to Pakistan during the four-day war last May.Zhang said: “At the support base, we frequently heard the roar of fighter jets taking off and the constant wail of air-raid sirens. By late morning, in May, the temperature was already approaching 50 degrees Celsius [122 degrees Fahrenheit]. It was a real ordeal for us, both mentally and physically.”He added that what drove his team was the "desire to do an even better job with on‑site support” and to ensure their equipment could “truly perform at its full combat potential."India ready to quell any cross-border misadventure: Navy chief designate SwaminathanIndian Navy chief designate Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan has said the country has been a victim of terrorism for several years, and asserted that it remains prepared to counter and quell any "misadventure" from across the border, PTI reported.Operation Sindoor was targeted specifically at terrorists and terrorist camps that participated in a very dastardly incident in Pahalgam in 2025, said Swaminathan, the Flag Officer, Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command.The country cannot accept terrorist activities in the country, especially when they come from foreign soil, he asserted at an event organised by the Bramha Research Foundation, a think tank, in Mumbai on Monday.“Anybody who is sensible in the world knows the misadventure does not come anywhere or anytime from India. India has always been in a responding kind of mode. The misadventure comes from across the border. People can say what they want, but as far as we are concerned, India will remain prepared and if any misadventure comes from that side we are actually ready to quell it,” Swaminathan said.(With inputs from PTI)About the AuthorMausam JhaMausam Jha is a journalist who focuses on world affairs and politics. She provides clear, informative reporting with a go
Making sense of the West Bengal election verdict, Shashi Tharoor said around 91 lakh names were struck off the lists, with approximately 34 lakh individuals filing appeals claiming they were genuine voters.Congress MP Shashi Tharoor at the Parliament premises(Rahul Singh)Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has raised questions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and suggested that large-scale deletions and delayed verification of appeals may have helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in winning the state with landslide votes.Making sense of the West Bengal election verdict, Shashi Tharoor said around 91 lakh names were struck off the lists, with approximately 34 lakh individuals filing appeals claiming they were genuine voters.Shashi Tharoor said, “In the matter of the SIR, what I have said is a legitimate question to answer. Look at the Bengal case. 91 lakh names were struck off the rolls. Of those, 34 lakh living human beings have appealed, saying that they are around and they are legitimately entitled to vote. The rules have required each case to be adjudicated individually, so only a few hundred were adjudicated before the vote. To this day, there are some 31, 32 lakh people who might be found to have been legitimate voters in the remaining years while adjudication carries on, but they have missed their chance to vote.” He observed that BJP's victory margin, around 30 lakh votes, closely aligns with the number of pending voter appeals, raising questions about whether eligible voters were effectively unable to cast their ballots.“And the BJP won Bengal by a margin of 30 lakh votes. Now you tell me, is that entirely fair and democratic? This is the question that I ask. Honestly, I have no problem with deleting spurious, deleted, absent, migrated voters,” Tharoor said.Speaking of Congress' Kerala win, Shashi Tharoor said, “And particularly in Kerala, I suspect the Congress benefited from the deletions because the CPM was long a past master of double enrollment, triple enrollment, quadruple enrollment – the same people in four different booths and so on. That used to happen.” “And so they were eliminated by the SIR, and as you said, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, there were very few appeals. But in Bengal, there is no doubt that there were 34 lakh appeals. And that's 34 lakh forms filled by 34 lakh individuals. And of that, only a few hundred have been heard,” he said.The BJP secured a historic victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, winning 207 seats and ending the Trinamool Congress's 15-year rule in the state. The TMC secured 80 seats in the elections.After the verdict, the BJP has formed its government in West Bengal for the first time, with Suvendu Adhikari leading the charge with the Chief Minister post.(With agency inputs)About the AuthorLivemintFor about a decade, Livemint—News Desk has been a credible source for authentic and timely news, and well-researched analysis on national news, business, personal finance, corporates, politics and geopolitics. We bring the latest updates on all the listed companies on BSE and NSE, startups, mutual funds, Union ministries, geopolitics, and untapped human interest stories from around the world, helping our readers to stay informed on the latest developments around the globe. Our Coverage Areas 1. Companies: Comprehensive news and analysis on listed and unlisted companies, corporate announcements, corporate chatter, C-suite, business trends, hiring alerts, layoffs, work-life balance, world's top billionaires and richest and more. 2. Personal finance: Insights into mutual funds, small savings schemes like - PPF, SSY, post office savings scheme, stock to watch, personal loans, credit cards, top bank FDs, real estate, income tax and more. 3. Politics: Comprehensive coverage of general elections, state elections and bypolls, Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, Parliament, PMO, PIB, finance ministry, home ministry, among other union ministries and government departments. 4.
The Delhi High Court has protected the personality rights of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and directed X to take down a AI-generated deepfake video purportedly showing him praising Pakistan's diplomacy.Justice Mini Pushkarna, in an interim order passed on Tharoor's lawsuit, also restrained the misappropriation of the Thiruvananthapuram MP's name, image, distinct voice, "signature oratorical cadence and manner of speaking", "highly refined vocabulary" and other facets of his persona to create and publish any deepfakes, voice-cloned audio, morphed videos, etc. for any commercial, political, or malicious purpose across any physical or virtual medium.The court also asked Meta to ensure that certain offending reels on Instagram, which it made inaccessible, continue to remain so.Tharoor earlier moved the court against the repeated publication of deepfake videos purportedly showing him making "politically sensitive" statements. His senior counsel asserted that such content not only tarnished his reputation but also affected India's international standing.Justice Pushkarna, in the interim order, said Tharoor is a "respected and recognised public figure", who has "exclusive control" over the utilisation of his personality, and misappropriation of any attribute of his personality without his express permission and any consequent harm to his reputation is liable to be restrained."It is no more res intergra that personality rights/publicity rights are protectable under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950. The plaintiff's reputation, goodwill, name, physical appearance/image/likeness, voice, mannerisms, styles, signature oratorical style, and other attributes are uniquely identifiable and associated with the plaintiff. The same form the plaintiff's 'personality', over which the plaintiff enjoys sole and exclusive control," the court stated."Defendant no. 1 (Ashok Kumar /John Doe) are restrained from reproducing, misappropriating, or imitating any facet of the plaintiff's persona, including, but not limited to his (i) name, (ii) visual likeness and image, (iii) distinct voice, (iv) signature oratorical cadence and manner of speaking, and (v) highly refined vocabulary, to create, publish, or disseminate any synthetic media, deepfakes, voice-cloned audio, or morphed videos, through the use of AI, Generative AI, Machine Learning, or any other technology, for any commercial, political, or malicious purpose, across any physical or virtual medium. Defendant no. 2 is directed to forthwith take down and block access to the following link as available on its platform 'X'," it ordered.The court clarified that in case of further "false, fake and infringing videos", Tharoor shall be at liberty to approach the social media platforms for taking them down.It also asked the social media platforms to give Tharoor the complete identity, registration particulars, Basic Subscriber Information, IP login details, phone numbers, and email addresses of the uploaders, creators, and registrants of the infringing accounts within three weeks.In the lawsuit, Tharoor said that in or around March 2026, he discovered a "sophisticated, malicious campaign orchestrated by unknown infringers" across social media platforms, maliciously depicting him making politically sensitive statements praising Pakistan.Tharoor was represented by senior advocate Amit Sibal and law firm Trilegal.The lawsuit contended that the unauthorised cloning and exploitation of Tharoor's likeness, voice and mannerisms infringed his personality and publicity rights and also constituted a serious violation of his right to privacy."These infringers have weaponised artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to generate hyper-realistic audio-visual deepfakes by cloning the plaintiff's face, voice, vocabulary, and mannerisms. These fabricated videos maliciously depict the plaintiff making politically sensitive statements that he never made," the plea said."Crucially, as the plaintiff wa
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