Quick Take
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India conducted precision strikes in Pakistan, targeting terrorist bases in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, resulting in Pakistan shutting key airports for 48 hours.
After India’s strikes in several parts of Pakistan, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan Punjab, key airports in the country will remain shut for 48 hours, reports said.
At 1.44 am on Wednesday, India carried out precision strikes in at least two places – Muridka and Bahawalpur – in Pakistan’s Punjab and two – Kotli and Muzaffarabad – in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as part of ‘Operation Sindoor’. The strikes were carried out in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 in which 26 people were killed, including two Navy and Intelligence Bureau officers.
All three branches of the Indian armed forces – the Army, Navy and Air Force – were involved in Operation Sindoor, in which at least nine terrorist bases in Pakistan were hit. The targets included Muridke – the headquarters of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is believed to be behind the Pahalgam attack – and Bahawalpur, which is the base of the Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Responding to India’s diplomatic measures after the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan had shut its airspace to Indian airlines and it has now shut key airports for 48 hours.
India has also announced that no civilian flights will be operated from the Srinagar airport on Wednesday.
In a statement, the defence ministry described the strikes as a “precise and restrained response” to the barbaric Pahalgam terror attack and stressed that no Pakistani military facilities were hit, reflecting India’s “calibrated and non-escalatory approach”.
Emphasising the retaliatory nature of the strikes, the ministry said, “This operation underscores India’s resolve to hold perpetrators accountable while avoiding unnecessary provocation.”
India has also said that it expected Pakistan to act against terrorists after the Pahalgam attacks but it “indulged in denial” instead.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said attacks were carried out in five locations and that the country “retains the right to respond forcefully”. The Pakistan Army also opened artillery fire along the Line of Control in the Bhimber Gali area of the Poonch-Rajauri sector, keeping up ceasefire violations that have been going on for over 10 days.
India has briefed several countries after the precision strikes, including the United States, with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval speaking to his US counterpart Marco Rubio.
