By Ajai Shukla
The Mint, 7th May 2025.
15 days after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam that took the lives of 26 tourists, the Indian Air Force (IAF) announced that it had launched missile strikes on nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POK) on the night of May 6.
In a statement issued on May 7th morning, the Indian government said "nine sites have been targeted".
“A little while ago, Indian armed forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POK) from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.”
"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", said the Indian statement.
The statement adds that the attack was ordered after last month's deadly militant attack on tourists in India-administered Kashmir. “We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” it said.
Pakistan's military spokesperson said that residents in Muzaffarabad, the biggest city in POK, were jolted awake by huge explosions.
India said three civilians were killed by Pakistani shelling on its side of the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides the province of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Tensions between the two nuclear-armed states soared after four heavily armed terrorists attacked emerged from the forest outside Pahalgam last month and shot dead tourists and honeymooners for whom this is a popular destination.
India says it has "evidence pointing towards the clear involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists, external" in the attack. Pakistan has denied any link.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo TV that India had launched missiles at Pakistan from within its own airspace.
He further added that the strikes hit civilian areas. India's claim of "targeting terrorist camps" is false, he said.
Pakistan's military spokesperson, the director general of Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), told Pakistan television news channel, Geo TV, that three locations have been hit by Indian missiles.
The spokesperson, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry says the locations targeted were Muzaffarabad and Kotli in POK, and Bahawalpur in the Pakistani province of Punjab.
Islamabad "will respond to this [attack] at a time and place of its choosing", said Chaudhry. "All of our air force jets are airborne. This is a shameful and cowardly attack that was carried out from within India's airspace," he added.
The Indian army said on May 7 that Pakistan has "fired artillery in Bhimber Gali in the Poonch-Rajauri area" in Kashmir, just across the dividing lines. India's armed forces are "responding appropriately in a calibrated manner," the army said in a post on X.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that he is monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely. Earlier today, the Indian embassy in Washington said that India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had spoken to Rubio "and briefed him on the actions taken".
President Donald Trump had also responded to media questions about India's strike, calling it "a shame". "I just hope it ends very quickly," Trump said while speaking at the White House in Washington DC.
Rubio said he echoed the US president's comments "that this hopefully ends quickly". He also said that he would continue to engage with both Indian and Pakistani leadership "towards a peaceful resolution".
The Chinese foreign ministry has called India's military operation against Pakistan "regrettable".
In response to a question on escalating tensions between the South Asian rivals, the foreign ministry spokesperson said they were "concerned" about the ongoing situation and asked both countries to "remain calm, exercise restraint and refrain from taking actions that may further complicate the situation".
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