New Delhi: In a military response to the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, India in the early hours of 7 May launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, a tri-services precision strike that successfully destroyed nine terrorist installations inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The retaliatory operation, involving the Army, Navy and Air Force, was conducted from Indian soil and did not target any Pakistani military facilities.
The Ministry of Defence described the mission as “focused, measured and non-escalatory”, carefully selecting terror infrastructure linked to banned outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Intelligence agencies provided the targets’ exact coordinates, including JeM’s headquarters in Bahawalpur and LeT’s main base in Muridke, both located in Pakistan. A total of nine locations were struck, four within Pakistan and five in PoK, using specially deployed precision-guided munitions.
The strikes came days after a brutal terror assault on 22 April in Pahalgam, which claimed 26 civilian lives. Indian intelligence attributed the attack to operatives supported by Pakistan-based terrorist outfits.
The latest operation’s objective was to specifically neutralise top leaders and operational nodes of JeM and LeT.
JeM, founded by UN-designated terrorist Masood Azhar, has long operated out of Bahawalpur and was responsible for previous major attacks in India, including the Pulwama bombing and the 2001 Parliament attack. Meanwhile, LeT, led by Hafiz Saeed, was the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks and has been operating from Muridke.
In its official statement issued at 1:44 am, the defence ministry emphasised India’s restraint and precision:
“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”
Following the operation, India proactively reached out to key international partners, briefing global powers including the US.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke with his US counterpart and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sharing details of the evidence collected and rationale for the strikes.
In a statement, the Indian Embassy in Washington said:
“India has credible leads, technical inputs, testimony of the survivors and other evidence pointing towards the clear involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists in this attack. It was expected that Pakistan would take action against terrorists and the infrastructure that supports them. Instead, during the fortnight that has gone by, Pakistan has indulged in denial and made allegations of false flag operations against India.”
Witnesses in Muzaffarabad, a key city in PoK, reported multiple loud explosions followed by a widespread power blackout shortly after the strikes, lending further evidence to the scale and impact of the precision operation.
It should be noted that in parallel with these developments, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 5 May had directed all states and union territories to conduct nationwide civil defence mock drills on 7 May, to assess preparedness in the event of “new and complex threats.”
These drills are being conducted in 244 categorised civil defence districts, with focus areas ranging from air-raid warnings to evacuation rehearsals, camouflaging key installations and testing emergency communications, particularly hotlines linked with the Indian Air Force.
The MHA’s order categorises civil defence districts into three tiers based on priority, high, medium, and low, with high-priority zones including Delhi, Mumbai, Jammu, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and border towns in J&K and Punjab. As stated, these drills will serve as a part of the government’s broader strategy to enhance domestic readiness in the face of evolving security threats.
However, a detailed briefing on Operation Sindoor by the Indian Armed Forces is expected later today, where more operational details and outcomes will be shared.
For now, the coordinated and calculated nature of the strikes appears to signal a new doctrine in India’s counter-terrorism policy, marked by precision, restraint and international diplomatic engagement.
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