'Pakistan doesn’t get to play the victim': Nikki Haley backs India’s right to retaliate after Pahalgam terror attack

Indian-American Republican leader Nikki Haley on Thursday backed India’s right to retaliate after the Pahalgam terror attack, stating that “Pakistan does not get to play the victim” and that no nation should be spared for supporting terrorism.“Terrorists launched an attack that killed dozens of Indian citizens. India had every right to retaliate and defend itself. Pakistan does not get to play the victim. No country gets a pass for supporting terrorist activity,” Haley said in a post on X.Her remarks came in the wake of India’s Operation Sindoor, a precision military response to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which left 26 civilians dead. India targeted nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir using drones and missiles.Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, foreign secretary Vikram Misri said the Indian military conducted a “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible” strike to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and deter further attacks. Misri noted that despite clear evidence of terror activity, Islamabad had taken “no demonstrable steps” to act against the groups involved.Haley, who served as US ambassador to the UN during Donald Trump’s presidency, has consistently advocated cutting US aid to Pakistan. In her 2024 presidential campaign—before dropping out in March 2024—she vowed to stop sending “hundreds of millions” to countries like Pakistan, calling it part of a weak foreign policy.In a past op-ed in the New York Post, she defended Trump’s decision to slash $2 billion in military aid to Pakistan, citing its sheltering of terrorists who had killed American troops.