By Samson Shen

On May 7th, India, in what it has called Operation Sindoor, launched nine targeted military strikes against what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan, including in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Punjab. India has reinforced its claim that the strikes were precise and were only targeting terrorist infrastructure.

These series of strikes were in response to the April 22nd terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed twenty-six Indian tourists. The attack was carried out by a fundamentalist Islamist militant group based in Pakistan. 

Pakistan condemned Operation Sindoor, claiming that India’s attack had killed thirty-one people and destroyed civilian infrastructure, including a mosque in Muzaffarabad and a seminary in Bahawalpur. Pakistan vowed to avenge the people killed by India’s attack and retaliated by intensively shelling the other side of the Line of Control, including the Indian town of Poonch, resulting in civilian casualties including two deaths.

Neither of the two nations showed signs of withdrawal and the conflict continued to escalate where on May 8th and May 9th, the two nations engaged in a series of air battles, one of them drawing more than a hundred fighter jets from the two nations in what was one of the largest air battles of recent history. Pakistan has reported that it has brought down various Indian drones and planes, including a French-manufactured Rafale, while India reported downing several Pakistan drones along with one Pakistani JF-17 fighter jet. The figures remain disputed.

Many world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, have appealed for restraint, dialogue, and diplomacy between the two states. The ensuing conflict has resulted in widespread disruption of civilian life in both countries, including large-scale evacuations in Indian-occupied Kashmir, closure of schools, and closure of many airports in the disputed territories.

India and Pakistan have remained firm on their own positions with India reaffirming its right to exercise self-defense against terrorism and Pakistan emphasizing the defense of its national sovereignty against what it perceives as Indian aggression. The international community continues to monitor the situation closely as the two nuclear-powers continue to escalate tensions between themselves.