Pakistan targeted Golden Temple post India's Operation Sindoor on May 8: Senior Indian Army official

Major General Kartik C Seshadri, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 15th Infantry Division, made a big revelation on Monday that Pakistan targeted the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, with missiles and drones on May 8. He said that the Indian Army had anticipated Pakistan's move to target its military installations along with civilian establishments, including religious places like the Golden Temple. 

"Knowing that Pak Army does not have any legitimate targets, we anticipated that they will target Indian military installations, civilian targets including religious places. Of these, Golden Temple appeared to be the most prominent. We mobilised additional modern air defence assets to give a holistic air defence umbrella cover to Golden Temple," he said. 

He further said that Pakistan launched some Kamikaze drones, surface-to-surface, and air-to-surface missiles were launched directly for the Golden Temple. Further, the GOC of the 15th Infantry Division said that the armed forces targeted several places, including Muridke and Bahawalpur, in Pakistan with "absolute precision". 

"Of these (nine) targets, Muridke, which is in proximity to Lahore, houses the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba headquarters and also the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) headquarters at Bahawalpur, which were struck with absolute precision. Soon after the strikes, we issued a statement clarifying that we intentionally did not target any Pakistani military or civilian infrastructure," he added.

A day after the resounding success of Operation Sindoor, the Pakistan Army targeted several locations across the western border. Pakistan used Turkish-made Asisguard Songar drones to target 36 locations across India on the intervening night of May 7-8, as per Colonel Sofiya Qureshi. 

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said that Pakistan did not close its civil airspace despite launching a failed unprovoked drone and missile attack. She added that Pakistan used a civil airliner as a shield, knowing fully well that its attack on India would elicit a swift aerial defence response. 

"This is not safe for the unsuspecting civil airliners, including the international flights, which were flying near IB between India and Pakistan."