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Bhuj witnessed India's victory over Pakistan, says Rajnath Singh
This comes just a day after he visited Jammu and Kashmir and met security force personnel there.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh, at the Bhuj Rudra Mata Air Force Station in Gujarat, said he felt proud to be present at the place, adding that the region has been “witness to India's victory against Pakistan” twice, once in 1965 and now again this year.
Addressing Indian Air Force personnel, Singh said, "Whatever you did during Operation Sindoor, has made all Indians proud - whether they are in India or abroad."
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The defence minister's visit to the Bhuj air station comes just a day after he went to Jammu and Kashmir and met security force personnel at Srinagar's Badami Bagh Cantonment.
Singh's trip to Gujarat gains further significance as the state shares a 508-kilometre-long border with Pakistan and it was one of the targets Islamabad tried to struck using drones during the four-day military conflict with India. However, the threat was successfully thwarted by India's air defence systems.
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Referring to the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the defence minister said, “Bhuj was witness to our victory against Pakistan in 1965, and today again it has been witness to our victory against Pakistan... I feel proud to be present here.”
In 1965, Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar, aimed at infiltrating Kashmir and inciting rebel against Indian rule. To this, India responded by launched a full-scale military offensive.
The two neighbor nations fought the war along the International Border and in Jammu and Kashmir, with the major battle areas being Akhnoor, Chhamb, Khem Karan and Gujarat's Kutch.
The conflict over disputed territory escalated in the Rann of Kutch, with both sides engaging in localized fights between groups of people.
Singh also highlighted India's military prowess and said that "just 23 minutes were enough for the Indian Air Force to crush terrorism being nurtured in Pakistan".
On May 7, Indian armed forces carried out precision strikes on nine terror infrastructure linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under ‘Operation Sindoor’. The operation was launched against the neighbor nation in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
Following Operation Sindoor, Pakistan attempted to launch a military retaliation against India with cross-bordering shelling, use of drones and unarmed vehicles over J&K and border regions, including those in Punjab and Rajasthan. These attempts were successfully neutralised by the Indian armed forces and the air defence system of the nation.
India and Pakistan on May 10 reached a ceasefire understanding after Islamabad's director general of military operations reached out to New Delhi's DGMO. The DGMOs spoke again on May 12, wherein they reaffirmed to the stoppage on all military actions against each other on land, air, and sea.
Rajnath Singh, at the Bhuj air base, asserted that India has kept Pakistan on probation (with the ceasefire). "If its behavior improves, then okay, otherwise, it will be given strictest punishment," he said.
The defence minister said that Operation Sindoor is not over yet. "Whatever happened was just a trailer. When the right time comes, we will show the full picture to the world," Singh added.
