NDC DESK
In the early hours of May 7, under the codename Operation Sindhoor, the Indian Armed Forces launched a coordinated precision strike on nine terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Not retaliation but a dignified response to the April 22 Pulwama terror attack.
The attack had no fanfare or chest-thumping. Just silence and precision. A very clear and cold message: “You don’t kill our people and expect silence.”
Our people had come for the mountains. For the breeze of Pahalgam. For a break, for serenity and peace, for happy time with their families. For honeymoon selfies and generational family photos. Twenty-six Indians – full of plans and dreams were ended in a place meant for peace. They were happy tourists, industrialists, NRIs, newlyweds, who believed Kashmir was theirs too. But on April 22, their belief was shattered by bullets and blasts.
Twenty-six women returned home with their life partners gone, with their Sindhoor wiped off. Their homes were silenced. Their laughter stolen. Their futures rewritten.
The targets were not arbitrary. Intelligence had mapped training centres, safe houses, and launchpads that had long been used to infiltrate terror into Indian soil. UAVs confirmed real-time visuals. Satellite data lined up. Within a 45-minute window, all nine terror hubs that smuggled hatred across LoC were reduced to rubble. Not a single Indian life lost.
The name Sindhoor wasn’t a coincidence or just military strategy. It was deliberate. Poetic and fierce. A message to not only to those who shelter terror but to every grieving family. For every woman whose forehead was robbed of its red, the operation wore it like a badge. India will not tolerate someone robbing its daughters of their Sindhoor lightly.
The 26 families that lost their dear ones never asked for vengeance. But their pain asked for justice. Operation Sindhoor told every Indian mother, wife, and daughter: We won’t let your pain go unanswered.
In this crimson name, there was both grief and grit. Critics will count the cost. But what’s the cost of a crying child on a cancelled vacation and broken dreams of families.
India mourned. But India also moved. India remembered and responded. Intelligence, technology, and courage converged. Yes! India delivered.
