“We are not killing you, go inform Modi,” was a statement given by one of the terrorists to Pallavi, the wife of Manjunath, a resident of Karnataka’s Shivamogga minutes after shooting the latter dead right in front of her eyes.

According to Pallavi, the attackers seemed to be targeting only the Hindus. “Three to four people attacked us. I told them – kill me too, you’ve already killed my husband. One of them said, ‘I won’t kill you. Go tell this to Modi’.”

Operation Sindoor comes in retaliation to the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam that left 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen, mostly tourists dead. Soon after the Pahalgam terror attack which took place on April 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to pursue the perpetrators of the attack and those who took part in its conspiracy to inflict punishment to them “beyond their imagination”.

Pahalgam terror attacks: Sindoor snatched from India’s daughters

The name Sindoor for the operation is relevant post the Pahalgam terror attacks. Sindoor is the Hindi word for vermillion, which married Hindu women often apply to their foreheads. Just like the case of Pallavi, several female Hindu tourists lost their husbands right in front of their eyes, which meant that the Sindoor (vermillion) was removed from their forehead, which is a symbol a Hindu married woman has to carry as per Hindu culture and traditions.

It is as if to avenge the removal of sindoor from the forehead of its daughters, India launched “Operation Sindoor”. In a series of precision strikes carried out overnight early on Wednesday to targeted terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) killing over 80 terrorists dead.

The nine facilities targeted by India are linked to banned terrorist outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Hizbul Mujahideen. Operation Sindoor comes in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 civilians dead.

Pahalgam victim’s daughter reacts to Operation Sindoor’s name

Reacting to the name Operation Sindoor, Asavari Jagdale, daughter of Pune’s Santosh Jagdale who was killed in front of her eyes, said, “I cried a lot hearing the name of the operation. It is a real tribute and justice to those who were killed by terrorists.”

Her father, Santosh Jagdale, 54, was asked to recite an Islamic verse by terrorists, and when he failed, they shot him thrice in the head, behind the ear, and back.

“They then asked my father to recite an Islamic verse (probably the Kalma). When he failed to do so, they pumped three bullets into him, one on the head, one behind the ear and another in the back,” the 26-year-old Human Resource professional from Pune told media a day after the attack on April 22.

These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack: India

Wednesday’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ is supposedly a reference to only men being singled out based on their faith before being killed in Pahalgam.

“These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered. We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” India said in a statement.

In an official statement, the Ministry of Defence confirmed hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.”

The Ministry of Defence has clarified that Operation Sindoor was “focused, measured, and non-escalatory”. Every effort was made to ensure that only terrorist infrastructure was targeted, avoiding any damage to Pakistani military installations. This strategy was designed to send a firm message while avoiding broader military conflict.

India targets LeT and JeM strongholds

Under Operation Sindoor, the two biggest strikes were conducted in JeM stronghold Bahawalpur and Muridke, killing an estimated 25–30 terrorists at each site. In Muridke, the target was Masjid wa Markaz Taiba, the LeT’s nerve centre and ideological headquarters, which is infamous as Pakistan’s breeding ground of terrorists or “terror nursery”.

Among the facilities targeted under Operation Sindoor were launch pads, training camps, and radicalisation centres operated by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) — both designated terrorist organisations under United Nations sanctions.