New Delhi: Retaliating against the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces on early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s base in Muridke.
The military strikes were conducted under Operation Sindoor two weeks after the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
“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 defence ministry said in a statement at 1.44 am.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif termed the Indian missile strikes an “act of war” and said his country has every right to give a “befitting reply”.
The Indian statement said, “No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in a selection of targets and method of execution.”
Also Read: Terrorists will now understand value of life’: Woman who lost husband in Pahalgam hails Op Sindoor
It said the actions by the Indian armed forces have been “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature and that no Pakistani military facilities have been targeted.
Sources added that the strikes on all nine targets were successful, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was monitoring Operation Sindoor closely.
It is learnt that the Indian armed forces used stand-off weapons, drones and precision munitions, besides other weapons, in the strike.
Muridke, about 30 km from Lahore, is home to a sprawling ‘markaz’ or base of the LeT. Bahawalpur is the main stronghold of the JeM. Both are in Pakistan Punjab.
The other targets — Kotli and Muzaffarabad — are regions in PoK where both LeT and JeM have for long had camps and training facilities, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The targets included Hizbul Mujahideen’s facility in Mehmoona Joya in Sialkot, LeT’s base in Markaz Ahle Hadith in Barnala and its camp in Muzaffarabad’s Shawai Nalla. India also struck at JeM’s Markaz Abbas facility in Kotli.
The carefully named Operation Sindoor is a reference to the vermilion that married Hindu women wear on their forehead or in the parting of their hair to signify their marital status. It is a hat tip to the women who lost their husbands in the April 22 attack in the upper reaches of Kashmir’s Pahalgam town.
India’s actions came two weeks after the Pahalgam terror attack triggered widespread outrage in India and abroad.
“These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered,” the defence ministry said in its statement.
“We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” it said.
In a post on ‘X’ in Hindi shortly after the strikes, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said: “Long live Mother India!” (Bharat Mata Ki Jai).”
“The world must show zero tolerance for terrorism,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar added.
“Justice is Served,” the Indian Army said in its post.
Pakistan Army spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that missile strikes were fired by India at Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Bahawalpur in Punjab.
“All of our air force jets are airborne. This cowardly and shameful attack was carried out from within India’s airspace. They were never allowed to come and intrude into the space of Pakistan,” he said.
“The Pakistani nation and the Pakistani armed forces know how to deal with the enemy very well,” Shehbaz Sharif said.
The Pakistan foreign ministry condemned India’s action.
“In an unprovoked and blatant act of war, the Indian Air Force, while remaining within Indian airspace, has violated Pakistan’s sovereignty using standoff weapons, targeting civilian population across international border in Muridke and Bahawalpur, and across Line of Control in Kotli and Muzaffarabad,” it said.
It said India’s “act of aggression” has resulted in the death of civilians, adding that “Pakistan reserves the right to respond appropriately at a time and place of its choosing”.
Sources in the Indian military establishment said all air defence units have been put on alert along the frontier with Pakistan.
After the operation, India reached out to several leading countries, including the US, Russia, the UK, UAE and Saudi Arabia and briefed them about the military strike on the nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir, the sources said.
“Senior Indian officials have spoken to their counterparts in many countries to brief them on the steps taken by India,” said a source.
The operation came days after Modi gave the armed forces full freedom to respond to the Pahalgam terror attack.
In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass, the prime minister April 29, gave the armed forces “complete operational freedom” to decide on the mode, targets and timing of the response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Modi also emphasised the national resolve to deal a “crushing blow to terrorism”.
PTI
