Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make a statement to the nation at 8 PM today, his first since a ceasefire was announced following four days of fierce fighting with Pakistan after India retaliated under Operation Sindoor.
Operation Sindoor began on May 7, two weeks following a barbaric terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, when 26 people, 24 Indian tourists, one Nepalese citizen, and a local pony handler who succumbed to injuries while attempting to save a tourist lost their lives. The attackers had allegedly done religious profiling before they started firing, confirmed reports.
A Pakistan-based proxy group of Lashkar-e-Taiba took responsibility for the attack. Investigations later established that three among the five terrorists were Pakistani.
Terror Camps and Key Operatives Targeted
As a counterattack, India launched precision strikes on nine terror camps along Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The series of operations resulted in eliminating almost 100 terrorists, including perpetrators of earlier high-profile attacks such as Pulwama (2019) and the IC 814 hijacking (1999).
Important Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed handlers neutralized are Mudassar Khadian Khas and Khalid alias Abu Akasha of LeT, and Mohammed Yusuf Azhar, Hafiz Mohammed Jaleel, and Mohammad Hassan Khan of JeM. Importantly, Mohammed Yusuf Azhar, Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law and founder of JeM, was one of the masterminds behind the hijacking of IC 814 in 1999 to Kandahar.
In retaliation to India’s aggression, Pakistan initiated a series of drone and missile strikes along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Punjab. Shelling also commenced along the LoC and International Border, defying the previous ceasefire agreement.
India responded with targeted and controlled counterattacks, which hit various military bases in Pakistan, such as Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sagodha, and Bholari. The Indian Air Force also attacked radar bases in Lahore and Gujranwala. These operations formed part of a prolonged plan under Operation Sindoor and included attacking command centers, radar bases, and ammunition depots deep inside Pakistani land.
Ceasefire Agreement and Future Warning
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump revealed that India and Pakistan had agreed on a ceasefire. The news was shortly after confirmed by India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. But the government of India made it clear that the ceasefire resulted from a direct conversation between the two nations’ highest military leaders and made no mention of the US mediation.
India has thereafter announced that any subsequent terror action funded by Pakistan will be viewed as an act of war, to which the nation will take strong action.
