India says it launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in retaliation for Pahalgam attack

Jordan Daily – India launched “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible” strikes early Wednesday on “terror infrastructure” inside Pakistan in retaliation for the April 22 attack in Jammu & Kashmir that killed 26 people, including a Nepalese national, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said today.

Misri announced the operation—code-named Operation Sindoor—in a press briefing, stating the strikes aimed to “dismantle terrorist infrastructure and disable terrorists likely to be sent across to India.”

The attack in Pahalgam was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a UN-proscribed group. Victims were reportedly killed with “head-shots from close range,” in front of their families, Misri said, calling the assault “marked by extreme barbarity.”

The attack was “clearly driven by the objective of undermining the normalcy returning to Jammu & Kashmir,” Misri said, adding that it targeted tourism, which drew a record 23 million visitors last year. He accused Pakistan of attempting to provoke communal discord and sustain “fertile ground for continued cross-border terrorism.”

India had previously flagged TRF’s links to LeT in reports to the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee, including in May and November 2024. Misri noted Pakistan’s efforts to suppress references to TRF in a UN Security Council press statement on April 25.