In a note to correspondents issued by his spokesperson on Tuesday, Secretary-General António Guterres said: “The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan."

On Monday, the Secretary-General had warned that the tensions between the two South Asian neighbours had reached “their highest in years.”

He offered his good offices to both governments to help defuse tensions and promote diplomacy, stressing that “a military solution is no solution.”

Speaking to the media on Monday, Mr. Guterres condemned the 22 April terror attack in the Pahalgam area of Jammu and Kashmir, which left at least 26 civilians dead and many more injured.

“Targeting civilians is unacceptable – and those responsible must be brought to justice through credible and lawful means,” he said.

Dismantling Terrorists' Infrastructure, Says Top Indian Official

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has called the Operation Sindoor, India's retaliation against the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, "measured", "non-escalatory" and aimed at dismantling terrorists' infrastructure.

At a press briefing with the Army, Misry said, "The attack in Pahalgam was marked by extreme barbarity, with the victims mostly killed with head shots from close range and in front of their family...the family members were deliberately traumatised through the manner of killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message. The attack was clearly driven by the objective of undermining normalcy returning to Kashmir..."

"Our intelligence monitory of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India are impending. Thus, compulsion, both to deter and pre-empt. Earlier this morning, India exercised its right to respond and pre-empt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.... These actions were measured and non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible. They focused on dismantling terrorists' infrastructure."

He added, "It was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the 22nd attack be brought to justice. Despite a fortnight having passed since the attack, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan against terrorists' infrastructure in its area."

Operation Sindoor

The Indian Armed Forces in the wee hours on Wednesday launched Operation Sindoor, targeting terrorist camps at nine locations inside Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), to avenge the Pahalgam terrorist attack, in which 26 people, all men and mostly Hindu tourists, were killed on April 22.

“A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” the Ministry of Defence said in a media release after 2 am.

According to a statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the operation was aimed at neutralizing terror camps actively involved in planning and executing attacks against India. A total of nine sites have been hit during the strike.