Fully prepared to respond to Pak: India after hitting 9 sites in 25 minutes

Indian armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any possible Pakistani misadventures that will escalate the situation, military officials said on Wednesday at an official briefing on ‘Operation Sindoor’, India’s strike on nine sites of terror infrastructure in both Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack. The operation saw the first strikes by Indian armed forces in Pakistan’s Punjab province since 1971.

 

Accompanied by Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri at the briefing, the Indian Army’s Col Sofia Quereshi informed that Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian armed forces in the early hours of May 7, with the nine strikes, which started at 1:05 am, being completed within 25 minutes.

 

Col Quereshi said the operation was launched to “deliver justice to the victims of the Pahalgam terrorist attack and their families”. She added that nine terrorist camps were targeted and successfully destroyed.

 

Earlier in the day, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) release announced that India carried out precision strikes at these targets, with a total of nine sites being hit. “A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” said the MoD.

 

Five targets were hit in PoJK — the Sawai Nala and Syedna Belal camps in Muzaffarabad, the Gulpur and Abbas camps in Kotli, and the Barnala camp in Bhimber. Meanwhile, four were hit in Pakistan proper — the Sarjal and Mehmoona Joya camps in Sialkot, the Markaz Taiba in Muridke, and the Markaz Subhan in Bahawalpur.

 

Stating that India had demonstrated considerable restraint in its response, Wing Commander Singh said: “However, it must be said that the Indian armed forces are fully prepared to respond to Pakistani misadventures, if any, that will escalate the situation.”

 

Wing Commander Singh said the strikes on the terror camps were undertaken through precision capability, using “niche technology weapons” with careful selection of warheads that ensured no collateral damage. “The point of impact in each of the targets was a specific building or a group of buildings,” added Wing Commander Singh, underscoring that all the targets were neutralised with clinical efficiency.

 

Reiterating the point underlined in the early morning MoD release, Wing Commander Singh stressed: “No military establishments were targeted.” She added that there had been no reports of collateral damage so far.

 

Speaking before the personnel of the armed forces, while opening the briefing, Foreign Secretary Misri underscored that by conducting Operation Sindoor, India “exercised its right to respond and pre-empt as well as deter” more cross-border attacks like the one at Pahalgam.

 

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Misri said despite the diplomatic measures announced on April 23, the government deemed it essential that the perpetrators and planners of the Pahalgam attack be brought to justice. “Despite a fortnight having passed since the attacks, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan to take action against the terrorist infrastructure on its territory or on territory under its control. Instead, all it has indulged in are denials and allegations. Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending. There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt,” said the foreign secretary.

 

Describing the actions as “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible”, the Foreign Secretary said: “They focused on dismantling the terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists likely to be sent across to India.”

 

Referring to the UN Security Council’s press statement, issued on April 25 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, the foreign secretary highlighted what it said: “The need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.” Misri stressed that India’s latest actions should be seen in this context.