Operation Sindoor: New red line drawn as Lashkar, Jaish and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen bases targeted

Indian Express

07-05-2025

IN JUST 25 minutes, Operation Sindoor marked a new red line, significantly raising Pakistan's cost of a terror strike against India.
The coordinated assault, using multiple long-range high-precision strike weapons at predetermined targets in PoK and in Pakistan, has 'upped the ante and signalled that India can strike deep inside', said a senior security official. 'This is a big leap forward — just short of war.'
This is borne out by the range and number of targets on Tuesday and their relative distance from the LoC or the border.
In 2016, after the Uri attack, the incursions by the Army were up to 3 km inside PoK. In 2019, after Pulwama, the aerial strike was on Balakot, 60 km off the LoC in Pakistan. Operation Sindoor reached as deep as Bahawalpur, 150 km from the border.
The significance of the targets, particularly Muridke, Bahawalpur and Kotli, cannot be underscored since they represent many losses India has endured over decades. For India's security establishment, Muridke, a sprawling seminary over 200 acres in the outskirts of Lahore, has been the quintessential nursery of lethal terror for more than three decades — from orchestrating the first major suicide attack in Kashmir during Kargil war to the 26/11 Mumbai attack. It is the official headquarters of Jamat-ud-Dawa, a salafi organisation set up by Hafiz Sayeed.
Bahawalpur, which houses Jamia Masjid Subhanallah, too has symbolic value. This is where Masood Azhar was born and subsequently set up Jaish's base.
Similarly, Kotli in PoK is where Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has one of its oldest facilities. The target camp was used in early 1990s to train Kashmiri militants who would sneak across the LoC for arms training. Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin is at the top of the wanted list in India.
Army soldiers examine a building damaged after missile attack by India near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
Another shift from previous strikes, officials said, was the 'capture of clear, conclusive evidence' that the targets had been struck. 'This reinforces the credibility of the attack and points to an upgrade in capacity as well,' said the official.
While the weapons used in the operation — which hit 21 terror camps across nine locations in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and in the Punjab province of Pakistan — have not been made public, the targets point to a range of precision-guided long-range weapons that India has acquired in its arsenal in recent years.
This includes the French SCALP cruise missile and the HAMMER air-to-ground precision-guided weapon system, the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, among others. The Indian military, in recent years, has also procured a variety of drones, including lethal loitering munitions.
Briefing on the operation earlier in the day, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, a helicopter pilot with the IAF, said that niche technology weapons with careful selection of warheads was ensured, to avoid any collateral damage. 'The point of impact at each of the targets was a specific building or a group of buildings,' she said.
Operation Sindoor was launched in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack last month in which 26 civilians — 25 tourists and one local — were killed. The tourist victims were men and were said to have been singled out because they were Hindu.
Sources said that since the decision to retaliate to the Pahalgam terror attack was taken, the armed forces, in consultation with intelligence agencies, have been carrying out detailed and extensive target-analysis.
'The selection of targets had already been done based on technical inputs and was corroborated by HUMINT(human intelligence),' a source told The Indian Express.
The source added that locations with large terrorist camps were put in the list.
'Locations where certain terrorists under the radar were moving to, after the Pahalgam attack, were also put under surveillance and new locations were analysed,' the source added. After narrowing down the sites, the precision strike weapons were chosen and the methodology for launch were worked out.
A combination of precision strike missiles and drones was likely to have been selected to inflict maximum impact on targets, sources said.
Sources said that while the common notion was that the element of surprise would be lost if India were to retaliate immediately, not only was surprise maintained at each level, but the surprise factor was 'created in reverse'.
For instance, advanced artillery guns of the Army were deployed and kept ready with adequate ammunition, silent registration of targets across the LoC were carried out, even as none were fired despite regular unprovoked firing by Pakistan all along the border in the last two weeks.
As reported by The Indian Express earlier, most artillery regiments deployed along the LoC on the Indian side have transitioned to 155m-calibre guns from their earlier 105 mm-calibre guns as part of the Army's ongoing artillery modernisation plan.
There were discreet movements of other weapons, and they were kept ready for 'eventualities'.
Sources said country-wide civil defence drills, a range of air exercises including one scheduled on the Rajasthan border on Wednesday and Thursday, also potentially diverted attention from the anticipation of an immediate offensive action by India.