Operation Sindoor signalled no terror sanctuary is safe: Indian military

Operation Sindoor signalled that no terror sanctuary is safe in Pakistan and the mission was just the beginning, the Indian military said on Thursday as it commemorated the first anniversary of the multi-domain combat campaign.

The heads of military operations of the Indian Air Force, Navy and the Indian Army addressed a press conference in Jaipur detailing various aspects of the operation that was billed as India's most expansive combat mission in half a century to punish Pakistan for its support to cross-border terrorism.

"Operation Sindoor was not an end and it was just the beginning," Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, who played a key role in executing the operation in his capacity as the Army's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), said.

Ghai said Operation Sindoor saw India very coherently go beyond its erstwhile methods to target terror infrastructure across the Line of Control and international boundary with Pakistan.

It was a statement of resolve, responsibility and strategic restraint by our nation, he noted, adding it was executed with precision, proportionality and clarity of purpose. "India will defend its sovereignty, its security, and its people decisively, professionally and with the utmost responsibility," Ghai said.

Operation Sindoor signalled that no terror sanctuary in Pakistan is safe, he said.

We planned, executed and concluded a complex multi-domain operation in a remarkably compressed timeframe, he said.

Air Marshal A K Bharti, the then Director General of Air Operations, said Operation Sindoor reaffirmed primacy of air power.

In response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, carrying out airstrikes on nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The action triggered a rapid escalation in tensions with Pakistan launching retaliatory strikes, though most of them were thwarted by the Indian military.

The hostilities ended with an understanding on halting the military actions on May 10 following talks over the hotline between army officials of the two sides.