Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh will be briefing the media shortly on Operation Sindoor.
This comes hours after India hit nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, targeting terrorist infrastructure there, two weeks after the Pahalgam attack that had killed 26 people.
A defence ministry statement said on Wednesday, “A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir 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,” it added.
Which are the sites that were hit?
Of the nine sites India said it struck in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in a wave of attacks, four locations stand out for their ties to militant activity, according to Indian officials.
In Pakistan’s Punjab province, Bahawalpur and Muridke were among the targets. Bahawalpur, located near the border with India’s Rajasthan state, has been identified by authorities as a stronghold of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the militant group led by Masood Azhar. Azhar was among three men released by India in 1999 during a hostage exchange after an Indian Airlines flight was hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Bahawalpur is also the city where Azhar was born.
Muridke, a town near Lahore, is known as the base of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 170 people. The town is home to the Markaz-e-Taiba complex, which Indian and international security agencies have described as Lashkar’s headquarters.
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In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the strikes hit sites in Kotli and Muzaffarabad, both of which have been linked by Indian security officials to militant operations. Kotli lies just across the Line of Control from Jammu and is adjacent to India’s Poonch and Rajouri districts, areas that have frequently seen cross-border infiltration attempts.
Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, has long been identified by Indian authorities as a hub for multiple armed groups operating along the border. Located east of Baramulla and Kupwara in Indian-administered Kashmir, Muzaffarabad is believed to serve as a staging ground for militants crossing into India, often with the assistance of the Pakistani military, according to Indian officials.
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