According to sources cited by ANI, among the nine terror-linked sites struck, two major targets included the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur and the LeT’s base in Muridke, both located in Pakistan's Punjab province. Indian intelligence had gathered credible inputs that senior leadership from both groups were directly involved in orchestrating the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 civilians, most of them tourists.
Targeting Terrorism at Its Roots
The JeM base in Bahawalpur has long been associated with Masood Azhar, the group’s founder, who was infamously released in 1999 in exchange for hostages aboard hijacked flight IC-814.
Bahawalpur has since served as a nerve centre for planning attacks including the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2016 Pathankot airbase strike, and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing. Azhar, designated a global terrorist by the UN, has been in hiding since 2019, with intelligence pointing to continued operations supported by Pakistan’s ISI and Taliban elements in Afghanistan.
In Muridke, 30 km from Lahore, lies the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba, led by Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
The facility has remained active for decades and has been linked to a wide range of terror activities across India, including in Kashmir, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. Saeed remains one of India’s most wanted individuals and the LeT is a banned terror group under UN resolutions.
Measured and Non-Escalatory Strikes
India has reiterated that the operation was designed to be measured, focused, and non-escalatory. “No Pakistani military installations were targeted,” the Indian Defence Ministry said in a statement released at 1:44 AM. “Our actions have been executed with restraint and precision, strictly aimed at terrorist infrastructure used for launching attacks against India.”
A Pakistani military spokesperson, in an interview with the BBC, acknowledged that Indian air strikes had indeed hit Bahawalpur and Muridke, confirming the significance of the operation.
Diplomatic and Civil Fallout
Meanwhile, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held urgent discussions with US NSA Marco Rubio and Secretary of State, conveying India's position and sharing credible technical intelligence linking Pakistani-based operatives to the Pahalgam massacre. The Indian embassy in Washington confirmed that the U.S. has been briefed extensively.
Back home, the ripple effect of the operation has begun to impact civil life as well. Budget carrier IndiGo issued a statement saying that flights to and from Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Amritsar, Dharamshala, Chandigarh, and Bikanerwere being affected due to changing airspace conditions in the region, hinting at tightened security protocols post-strike.
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