In a high-level press briefing held in New Delhi on Wednesday, May 7, India’s Foreign Secretary said that the country carried out precision strikes on nine terrorist camps located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). The strikes, executed as part of ‘Operation Sindoor’, were launched in response to the “deliberate and heinous” terror attack on civilians in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which officials described as the most brutal since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
The officials said that the action of India was “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible”, and that they focused on “dismantling the terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists likely to be sent across India”.
Addressing the press meet, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, flanked by Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, said: “Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out a savage attack on tourists in Pahalgam. The victims were mostly killed with headshots. This was not just terrorism — it was a message of hate aimed at provoking communal discord and disrupting peace in Kashmir.”
Stating that it was an evolving situation, the officials did not take any questions from the media.
Colonel Sofiya said India has demonstrated considerable restraint in its response. “However, it must be said that the Indian armed forces are fully prepared to respond to Pakistani misadventures, if any, that will escalate the situation,” she said.
The group calling itself The Resistance Front (TRF), widely recognised as a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, Misri said, adding that India had flagged TRF in multiple reports submitted to the UN monitoring team, most recently in May and November 2024.
Colonel Qureshi said the military operation was based on "credible and specific intelligence" that indicated further attacks were being planned by Pakistan-based groups.
“Over the last three decades, Pakistan has systematically built terror infrastructure. It is a complex web of recruitment and indoctrination centres, training areas for initial and refresher courses,” she said and listed the targets of the attack.
Nine facilities targeted
The nine facilities targeted in the operation include: Sawai Nala in Muzaffarabad, Syedina Bilal, Kotli Gulpur, Bhimber, Kotli Abbas, Bahawalpur, Muridke, Sarjal, and Mehmoon Joya.
According to the officials, the Sawai Nala camp in Muzaffarabad which is 30 km from the LOC, was the training centre for Lashkar-eTaiba. The attackers of Pahalgam had trained in this facility, they said.
The Syedina Bilal camp was the staging area of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). It served as a facility for arms and jungle training.
The Kotli Gulpur camp was the base of Laskhar-e-Taiba. The Bhimber camp served as a facility for weapons handling and jungle survival training.
Colonel Sofiya also stressed that only terror-related facilities were hit, and that no civilian areas or military establishments were targeted. She said ‘Operation Sindoor’ was a restrained, focused operation aimed at dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism.
Foreign secretary Misri also went on to talk about Pakistan and how the country has a “reputation” with regards to being a “haven for terrorists”.
“Features of this [Pahalgam] attack also tie in with Pakistan’s long track record of perpetrating cross border terrorism in India which is well documented and beyond question. Pakistan also has a well deserved reputation as a haven for terrorists from around the world with internationally proscribed terrorists enjoying impunity there. In addition, Pakistan has been known to willfully mislead the world and international forums such as the financial action task force on this issue,” he said.
Misri added that the goal was to deter cross-border attacks and dismantle Pakistan’s entrenched terror infrastructure, and disable the terror networks.