After days of heightened tension between the two nuclear-armed nations, following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed dozens of tourists, India on 7 May destroyed nine terrorist infrastructures, including those belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The Government of India has described these missile and drone strikes, carried out under ‘Operation Sindoor’, as “measured” and “non-escalatory.”
According to military officials, the Indian military targeted the Markaz Taiba of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Muridke, a base in Markaz Ahle Hadith in Barnala, and its camp in Muzaffarabad’s Shawai Nalla, as well as the Markaz Subhan Allah of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Bahawalpur and the Hizbul Mujahideen’s Mehmoona Joya facility in Sialkot.
Media reports have indicated casualties on both sides of the border. At least 13 people have been reported dead on the Indian side in Jammu and Kashmir, while more than 30 have died on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), with dozens more injured.
The situation has never been entirely normal between these two nations, which have already fought two full-scale wars and continue to experience persistent border tensions.
Both countries must make every effort to avoid further escalation, as war has never been a solution for the two nations that were partitioned in 1947 upon gaining independence.