New Delhi: 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 Pakistan 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.
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.”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday directed chiefs of all paramilitary forces to call back their personnel who are on leave in the wake of the strikes carried out by the Indian armed forces in Pakistan as a retaliatory action against the Pahalgam terror attack, sources said.
The home minister directed chiefs of all Central Armed Police Forces to call back their personnel who are on leave, they said.
According to sources, said Shah also reviewed the internal security situation in the country and asked the top security officials to be on alert and keep strict vigil.
The home minister termed ‘Operation Sindoor’ as Bharat’s response to the brutal killings of innocent people in Pahalgam.
