India has decided that any future act of terror will be considered an Act of War against India and will be responded accordingly, top government sources told ANI on Saturday.
India has decided that any future act of terror will be considered an Act of War against India and will be responded accordingly, top government sources told ANI on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces at his residence in New Delhi.
India-Pakistan conflict: Developments so far
The meeting took place following India’s strikes at four airbases in Pakistan in the early hours of Saturday in reply to Pakistan’s attack on 26 Indian locations, which the government confirmed during a media briefing on Saturday morning.
Precision strikes were carried out on Pakistani military targets in Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, and Chunian, as well as radar sites at Pasrur and Sialkot aviation bases, using air-launched weapons from Indian fighter jets, Indian Army Colonel Sofiya Qureshi said during the briefing.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri emphasised that Pakistan’s actions against India are being seen as “escalatory” and “provocative” in nature. “Pakistan’s actions constituted provocation, escalation. In response, India defended and reacted in a responsible and measured fashion,” he said.
Despite the intensity of the attacks, Indian forces successfully engaged and retaliated, though airbases in Udhampur, Pathankot, Adampur, Bhuj, and Bathinda sustained damage, and personnel were injured. Pakistan’s use of high-speed missiles at 1:40 am to target Punjab’s airbase station and the unprofessional targeting of hospitals and schools in airbases in Srinagar, Awantipora, and Udhampur were particularly condemned, media was told during the briefing.
Incidents of heavy shelling and cross-border firing were reported from various places aligning with Pakistan border on Saturday.
India intercepted Pakistani drones on Friday night
Pakistan fired drones, possibly armed, at multiple locations for the second consecutive night on Friday. Heavy shelling was also reported from across the Line of Control (LoC) at multiple locations like Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri sector. Gunshots and explosions were also heard in Samba as India’s air defence system intercepted these drones.
A day before the Friday attack, Pakistan had launched a series of coordinated drone and missile attacks along India’s western border, targeting several regions on Thursday. Defence officials said the the attacks were intercepted by India’s air defence systems, including the S-400 missile defence system, preventing significant damage.
Tensions soared after the Indian Armed Forces on May 7 conducted precision strikes, under Operation Sindoor, targeting terror launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the April 22 attack by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.
