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'Committed to non-escalation, but...': Why India struck Pakistan's key air defence system
A press release by government of India said that the fresh strikes were “proportionate response” by India to “Pakistan’s bid to escalate”.
A day after the ‘Operation Sindoor’ military strikes on terror targets in Pakistan, India struck Pakistan's air defence systems early Thursday morning in response to a wave of drone and missile attacks launched by Pakistan against Indian military installations the previous night.
The Ministry of Defence of India released a detailed statement explaining the rationale behind the fresh strikes and reaffirmed the country’s commitment to a non-escalatory stance. Follow Operation Sindoor live updates
Why did India destroy Pakistan's air defence systems
The press release said that the fresh strikes were “proportionate response” by India to “Pakistan’s bid to escalate” and were conducted after Pakistan attempted to hit multiple military targets across northern and western India, including key locations such as Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, and Bhuj.
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These attempted attacks, involving drones and missiles, were intercepted and neutralised by India’s air defence network, but their debris was found across various regions — confirming the scale of the threat, the government of India said.
“On the night of 07-08 May 2025, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks,” the press release read.
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“Today morning Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised. Pakistan has increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using Mortars and heavy calibre Artillery in areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir,” it added.
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The release mentioned that 16 innocent lives have been lost, including three women and five children, due to Pakistani firing. “Here too, India was compelled to respond to bring Mortar and Artillery fire from Pakistan to a halt,” it added.
The government of India reiterated in the release the Indian armed forces' commitment to non-escalation, “provided it is respected by the Pakistani military.”
