Indian Response to Pahalgam Terror Attack

India’s response to Pakistan’s heinous terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22 (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/op-eds/anatomizing-pahalgam-massacre/) in the wee hours of May 7 through Operation “Sindoor” is already global news. In Pahalgam, the terrorists had singled out Hindu men and then shot them dead. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was the main preparator behind the Pahalgam massacre. The Indian response was precision missile attacks on nine targets (terror infrastructure and terror launch pads) in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK), as well as in Pakistan. The targets struck included: Muzaffarabad, Kotli and Bagh in POK, and; Muridke and Ahmedpura Sharqia in Bahawalpur, Punjab. Bahawalpur is the hometown of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and a safe haven for LeT chief Hafiz Saeed. India’s precision strikes were a joint mission involving the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF), which involved the employment of Rafale fighter jets, which were equipped with advanced SCALP cruise missiles and HAMMER precision-guided bombs. At 1:51 AM, the Indian Army posted on X: “Justice is served. Jai Hind!”

The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) issue a statement saying that the Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor, carrying out a series of precision strikes targeting nine terror targets, including terror camps and launchpads, in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The Ministry of Defence confirmed the strikes early Wednesday, calling them a “focused, measured and non-escalatory” response to the recent attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, where terrorists brutally killed 26 civilians after identifying and segregating them.

Striking Muridke and Ahmedpura Sharqia in Bahawalpur, Punjab demonstrated that unlike India’s Balakot airstrike in PoK in response to Pakistan’s Pulwama car-bombing in 2009 that killed 40 CRPF personnel, India will not be restrained from targeting terror infrastructure deep inside Pakistan. This message has gone loud and clear to Pakistan, as well as the world.

The POTUS Donald Trump, when asked for a response, said, "It's a shame. We just heard about it as we were walking in the doors of the Oval. Just heard about it. I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They have been fighting for many, many decades. And centuries, actually, if you think about it. I hope it ends very quickly." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he is closely monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan, hopes it ends quickly, and he will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that the tensions between the two South Asian neighbours have reached "their highest in years". Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief’s spokesperson, said during a press briefing, “The Secretary-General is very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border. He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries. The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.” Guterres has done his bit as the UN Secretary General, but the fact is that the West has reduced the stature of the UN to that of the erstwhile League of Nations because of their response to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, where the UN has little relevance.

The press briefing by Pakistan’s DGISPR on the casualties suffered by Pakistan in the Indian missile strike, with the script obviously approved by Army Chief Asim Munir, is amusing to say the least.

According to him, India was primarily targeting mosques and civilian residential areas, where the casualties suffered (killed and injured) were small; including many women and children. The false accusation of mosques being targeted is obviously to incite the Pakistani population, especially the radical Islamists-cum-terrorists. At the same time Pakistan should understand that if terrorists make their sanctuaries inside mosques, these will be targeted and attacked. Notably, this was done by Pakistan itself within Pakistan during the Lal Masjid Episode on July 3, 2007 doing the Pervez Musharraf regime; when security forces stormed the masjid leaving 9 dead and 150 injured.

The actual number of casualties suffered by Pakistan in these nine terror targets struck by Indian missiles will probably never be known as the DGISPR has already given out the official version.

 There were also earlier reports that fearing Indian retaliation, Pakistan had emptied the forward terror launch pads. If that truly was the case, then casualties in the terror launch pads struck may not be many. However, the message has firmly gone to Pakistan that enough is enough – India will firmly respond to terror attacks in the future. 

So, what happens now? Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has termed the Indian missile strikes an “act of war” and said Pakistan has every right to give a "befitting reply." Sharif has said this, being the pet pooch (as all civilian governments in Pakistan) of the Pakistani army, which holds the actual power and script the foreign and defence policies of Pakistan irrespective of whichever the government. Asim Munir was publicly berated by former Pakistani army chiefs and Generals after the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) killed all the 214 Pakistani military personnel in the Jaffar Express hijack. However, after the Pahalgam terror attack, his photograph standing atop a tank with red four-star plate (sic) was being flashed all over. Among the comments this attracted, one said Munir has probably tattooed four-stars on his arse as well.

Considering that no Pak army personnel were killed in the Indian strikes (unless some regulars were part of the terror infrastructure – practicing BAT actions), Pakistan should think twice before further escalation of the situation. It is already firing across the Line of Control (LoC) and three civilians have been killed on the Indian side. Pakistan may soon resort to artillery firing to target Hindu-predominant villages South of the Pir Panjal Range, as it has done in the past. But Munir’s tail would be afire because of internal pressure, plus the fact that he desperately wants an extension when his current tenure ends in November 2025.

Then is the unholy trinity of the CIA-MI6-ISI; meaning what does the West want as part of their Big Game in South Asia? The US and India are locked up in working out a bilateral trade deal and the UK has already signed the FTA with India. The strategic importance of Pakistan to the US and the UK continues as before. The question, therefore, is whether the US wants more escalation between India-Pakistan, even to the extent that China gets sucked in. Sure, Trump has expressed hope that hostilities between India and Pakistan should end soon, but he expressed the same hope for the war in Ukraine to end soon, and his administration has no comment whatsoever about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky openly threatening to attack the Victory Day Parade in Moscow on May 9, which is being attended by many Heads of States.

Finally, India is already prepared for escalation. Ball is in Pakistan’s court and its backers.

The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.