India appears to have achieved all its politico-military objectives with Operation Sindoor, involving overnight strikes on nine Pakistan ‘s terror hubs including those in its Punjab heartland: Muridke, home base of the Lashkar-e-Toiba which is blamed for the Pahalgam terror attack, and Bahwalpur, where the Jaish-e-Mohammad, perpetrator of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, is based.
India lost an unconfirmed number of aircraft, but it seems all the pilots were recovered from Indian territory.
The messaging from Delhi could not have been more stark: that India has the military capability and the political will to strike deep anywhere in Pakistan and that includes Punjab province, from where the army draws its recruits and political support.
The question now is whether Pakistan will escalate. Post India’s strike on Balakot, Pakistan did carry out retaliatory strikes on Indian military installations in Srinagar and elsewhere, inflicting minor damage.
If Pakistan does see a need to retaliate, the onus of escalation will be on Islamabad, is the view in Delhi. The External Affairs Ministry has already briefed diplomats from the US, Saudi Arabia, France and Russia. More are expected to be briefed in the coming days. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri underscored India’s reasons for the strikes.
“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.”
He said intelligence reports indicated more attacks against India, there was thus a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt.
The language used by India, of its attacks being non-military and limited to terror hubs, signals the Pakistani military establishment that it has avenged the Pahalgam attack and nothing further is envisaged. The ball is now in Pakistan’s court.
Earlier, at a nationally televised briefing in Delhi, Colonel Sophia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh underscored that no Pakistani military establishments were hit in this strike. The targets were chosen based on credible intelligence to avoid loss of civilian life.
The terror locations hit were:
- Sawai Nala, Muzaffarabad: Lashkar-e-Toiba training centre in Pak Occupied Kashmir (POK), 30 km from the Line of Control (LoC) with India. Blasts in Sonmarg (20th Oct, 2024), Gulmarg (24th Oct, 2024), and Pahalgam (22 April, 20250 were carried out from this site.
- Syedna Bilal Camp: A staging area of the Jaish-e-Mohammad in POK. It also functions as a training camp for handling arms of various kinds, bombs, and jungle training.
- Kotli Gulpur: Around 30 km from the LoC, is a base for terrorists active in Poonch. The April 2023 attack in Poonch and the June 2024 bus attack on Hindu pilgrims was carried out from here.
- Bhimber: Located 9 km away from the LoC in POK is a training centre for weapons, explosives, and jungle survival.
- Kotli Abbas: Located 13 km from the LoC in POK is a Lashkar-e-Toiba training camp.
- Sarjal Camp, Sialkot: This camp is in Punjab province, around 6 km away from the international border. Terrorists trained in this camp were responsible for the March 2025 attack on four J&K policemen.
- Mahmoona Joya, Sialkot: Located 12-18 km from the international border, it belongs to the Hizbul Mujahideen. It was a control centre for terror in the Katwa-Jammu area. The attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base was planned and directed from this camp.
- Markaz Taiba, Muridke: A major training camp again close to the international border. It was responsible for training several of the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks, including Ajmal Kasab and David Headley.
- Martaz Subhanallah Bahwalpur: Located deep inside Punjab, 100 km from the international border, is the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammad. It also functioned as the premier recruitment, training and indoctrination centre for terrorists. As per Maulana Masood Azhar’s statement, 10 members of his family were killed in the strike along with four of his aides.
