SINDOOR SERVES JUSTICE

Armed forces launch Operation Sindoor in the dead of night, hitting 9 facilities in Pok, Pakistan providing support to terror groups

- Rezaul H Laskar and Rahul Singh

• Among targets hit were Jaish-e-Mohammed's HQ deep inside Pakistan in Bahawalpur and terrorist training camps in Muzaffarabad

• New Delhi says action in line with UN's calls for 'need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers of Baisaran attack accountable'

• Pakistan says it will retaliate 'at a time, place and manner of its choosing'; resorts to heavy shelling along LoC, killing at least 13

India on Wednesday carried out precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure at nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack two weeks ago, marking the first attacks on the neighbouring country's most populous province, Punjab, since the 1971 war that ratcheted up bilateral tensions.

The 26-minute action codenamed Operation Sindoor was announced by the defence ministry at 1.44am, and the strikes conducted with a mix of missiles and smart munitions fired by aircraft and ground forces targeted bases of UN-proscribed terror groups such as Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) located across the international border and the Line of Control (LoC).

India's "measured, non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible" strikes on sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were a response to the killing of 26 people in the Pahalgam terror attack, and aimed at pre-empting and deterring more cross-border assaults, foreign secretary Vikram Misri told a media briefing about nine hours later.

The Indian side decided it was essential to bring to justice the perpetrators and planners of the Pahalgam attack as there was "no demonstrable step" from Pakistan to act against terrorist infrastructure on territories controlled by it even after a fortnight, Misri said.