Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: One year after India launched Operation Sindoor, the Indian Air Force released a video marking the anniversary of one of the country’s most significant military responses to cross-border terrorism. The video was shared at 1:05 am, the same time the operation was launched on May 7, 2025.The footage showed fighter jets taking off and naval assets deployed during the operation, underlining the tri-services nature of the mission. It also included visuals of damaged terror infrastructure after the strikes, along with a list of the nine locations targeted across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The sites named in the video were Sawai Nala, Syedna Bilal, Kotli Abbas, Kotli Gulpur and Bhimber in PoJK, along with Mehmooda Joya, Sarjal Launchpad, Muridke and Bahawalpur in Pakistan.The video also featured an older speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which he declared that “terror and talks cannot go together”, “terror and trade cannot go together”, and “water and blood cannot go together”.Operation Sindoor was launched in the early hours of May 7, 2025, following the April 22 terror attack in the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, where 26 civilians, most of them tourists, were killed after gunmen opened fire on unsuspecting visitors. In response, India carried out precision strikes on what it described as terror-linked infrastructure. The government maintained that the strikes were “focused, measured and non-escalatory” and clarified that Pakistani military facilities were not targeted.
The operation quickly became more than a military exercise. In the days that followed, New Delhi escalated diplomatic pressure by placing the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and suspending visa services for Pakistani nationals. Existing visas were revoked, while Indian citizens were advised against travelling to Pakistan and urged to return if already there.The strikes triggered several days of heightened tensions, including cross-border firing and aerial activity, before both sides agreed to halt military actions on May 10 after talks between their Directors General of Military Operations.
