India neutralises Pakistan missile and drone attacks in many cities

In a severe escalation on Thursday evening, Pakistan fired eight missiles directed at Satwari, Samba, RS Pura and Arnia, all in Jammu & Kashmir, which were all intercepted or blocked by air defence units, defence sources said late Thursday evening.  Indian security forces also detected Pakistani drone and munitions over Jammu city, Pathankot and Jaisalmer, with sources saying that air defence and counter drone systems were engaging the intruders.

  According to defence sources, the scenes playing out over Jammu were reminiscent of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which involved “multiple cheap rockets”. The sources assessed that the Pakistan Army was operating and behaving like Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many countries. Sources also said that members of Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Hamas had met in Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir recently.

 

  The defence ministry said military stations of Jammu, Pathankot, and Udhampur were targeted, with the Indian armed forces neutralising the threat according to the standard operating procedures with kinetic and non-kinetic means. Electricity in cities of Jammu, Pathankot and other areas under Pakistani attack was snapped leading to a complete blackout. There were blackouts in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Mohali in Punjab and Union Territory Chandigarh too. An Indian Premier League match in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, 80 km from the Pathankot airbase, was called off. Power supply was restored in some of these cities later in the night.

  As Pakistan escalated the attack in the evening, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar posted on X that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to him in the evening. “Deeply appreciate the US commitment to work with India in the fight against terrorism.”  

“Underlined India’s targeted and measured response to cross-border terrorism. Will firmly counter any attempts at escalation,” Jaishankar wrote on X. 

In another post, Jaishankar said he had discussed the “ongoing development” with European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas. “India has been measured in its actions. However, any escalation will get a firm response,” Jaishankar posted. According to reports, Rubio also spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and urged de-escalation. 

During the course of the day, the visiting Iranian foreign minister and Saudi Arabia’s junior foreign minister, in their meetings with Jaishankar, called for restraint on both sides and offered to mediate between India and Pakistan. At his meeting with Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Jaishankar said India had no intention to escalate tensions with the neighbouring nation but any military attacks on its soil would be met with a "very" firm response.

 

Jaishankar, and later Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri at a briefing, pointed to the “barbaric” April 22 Pahalgam terror attack as the “original escalation”, which compelled India to carry out strikes on "cross-border" terror infrastructure on Wednesday. “Our response was targeted and measured," he said. At an all-party meeting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh termed Wednesday’s pre-dawn Operation Sindoor as “ongoing” and said it killed at least 100 terrorists and their associates in strikes across nine locations, hitting at terror infrastructure across the border.

 

During the course of the day, India’s border states, especially Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, beefed up their preparedness for a possible Pakistani attack 36 hours after Operation Sindoor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a meeting of secretaries of key ministries to review preparedness.

 

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, the government said India’s armed forces foiled Pakistan’s attempt to attack 15 places in northern and western region, including Avantipora, Amritsar, Bathinda, Chandigarh and Bhuj, in the intervening night of May 7 and 8. In a carefully calibrated and pinpointed response in the morning, it took out Pakistan’s air defence radars and systems at multiple locations, including an air defence at Lahore’s airfield that was neutralised by an Indian drone, the defence ministry said.

 

In his briefing, Misri said the board members of the International Monetary Fund, who will meet on Friday, should “look deep within” and at the facts before approving another bailout package for Pakistan. He said India’s executive director would put forward India’s case at the meeting. Misri said the choice of de-escalation was with Pakistan as it had escalated the situation with the Pahalgam terror attack, and that India only responded to it through Operation Sindoor. As on Wednesday, Colonel Sofia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh shared details of Indian armed forces neutralising Pakistani attack on 15 places in the intervening night of May 7 and 8.