Operation Sindoor: With apt codename and precise strikes, India delivers strong message to Pakistan

NEW DELHI: India carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in a strong retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack.Indian forces avenged the 26 lives lost in barbaric terror attack carried out by Pakistan-backed terrorists at a tourist spot in Kashmir by hitting at the terrorist bases in Pakistan and PoK. The tri-service mission was codenamed 'Operation Sindoor'. After the strikes on all nine locations - four in Pakistan and five in PoK - were successful, Indian Army shared a photo of 'sindoor' (vermillion) with the mission name on X, and wrote: "#PahalgamTerrorAttack. Justice is Served. Jai Hind!"India has sent a strong message to Pakistan after Pahalgam attack by conducting these precision strikes, and by naming it aptly 'Operation Sindoor'. Sindoor, or vermillion, is a mark of married Hindu women. The name of the operation directly invokes the image of 'grieving wife' that became the symbol of Pahalgam attack. The image of Himanshi Narwal sitting next to her dead husband, Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, became image of the tragedy. She had been was married for just six days and had come to Kashmir for honeymoon.The witnesses later revealed that Hindu men were singled out and shot dead by the terrorists. However, with a pre-dawn operation, the Indian armed forces launched precision strikes on nine terrorist sites, including key locations in Bahawalpur, a known stronghold of the banned terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).The strikes, conducted under Operation Sindoor, were announced by the Ministry of Defence in a statement issued at 1.44 am. The ministry described the operation as "focused, measured, and non-escalatory."According to the official statement, “A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched 'Operation Sindoor,' targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, from where attacks on India have been orchestrated.”The statement emphasised that no Pakistani military installations were targeted, and added: “India has shown significant restraint in the choice of targets and the method of execution.”ANI sources confirmed that all nine intended targets were successfully hit, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was closely monitoring the operation throughout.Among the locations targeted were the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) base in Muridke, both in Pakistan’s Punjab province, officials said.The strikes come two weeks after the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which claimed the lives of 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen, sparking nationwide and international outrage.“These actions are in direct response to the barbaric attack in Pahalgam,” the defence ministry added. “We remain committed to ensuring that those responsible are held accountable.”