A swift, high-profile 25-minute military mission involving 24 precision strikes on terrorist sites across nine locations in Pakistan. This marked the launch of Operation Sindoor – India’s retaliation two weeks after 26 civilians were killed in Pahalgam.

Operation Sindoor – named as an ode to female victims who lost their husbands in the attack – and the decision to have lady officers lead the first media briefing in India have both been hailed as strong strategic signalling to Pakistan.

Giving details at the briefing in Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the missile strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Punjab province were “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible,” focusing on “dismantling terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists”.

Army Colonel Sofiya Qureshi said the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force successfully destroyed terrorist camps between 1.05 am and 1.30 am on Wednesday, and the targets were selected based on intelligence inputs to avoid damage to civilian infrastructure. “No military sites were attacked and no civilian lives were harmed,” asserted Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.

In PoK, multiple strikes were conducted at five locations in Muzaffarabad, Kotli, and Bhimber districts, targeting Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training camps. Four other locations were hit in Pakistan’s Punjab province – Sialkot, Muridke, and Bahawalpur – damaging LeT and JeM headquarters, seminaries, and a training camp of the Hizbul Mujahideen group.

Non-contact warfare

Aside from the militant camps in PoK near the Line of Control (LoC), this marks the first time since 1971 that military strikes have been launched deep into the heart of Punjab without mobilising ground forces or crossing the border, military personnel said.

The long-range missile strikes, which reached as far as Bahawalpur – 100 kilometres from the International Border – signified the use of a “kinetic non-contact warfare” strategy by the armed forces, noted Brigadier........

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