Operation Sindoor and some gory history of Muzaffarabad

The World must show zero tolerance for terrorism.  India has been one of the Nations worst affected by crossborder terrorism and Operation Sindoor is a just beginning at wiping out terror sources.

 

In the early hours of Wednesday, around 1:44 AM, the Indian armed forces launched missile strikes on nine terror bases located in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). This was a strong answer to a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, Anantnag (Jammu & Kashmir), which killed 26 people. Out of the nine terror sites attacked: Four were inside Pakistan and five were in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). These locations are believed to be hideouts or camps of terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, known for attacking India in the past. 

This has shaken Pakistan Govt and its army very badly .. .. among the targets, Muridke is a small city in Pakistan, near Lahore. It is known as a place where some dangerous groups have been active. From Delhi, Muridke is around 450 kilometers away by air.   

More striking one is -  Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. It is the farthest among the four, located nearly 700 kilometers from Delhi by air. This city has always been in the news whenever tensions rise between India and Pakistan. It sits close to the Line of Control (LoC), making it an important location in any cross-border operation. 

Multiple loud explosions were heard in the area close to the mountains around the city of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after midnight on Tuesday. According to a Reuters report, the city's power was blacked out after the explosions. A Pakistani military spokesperson said that India carried out missile attacks on three locations, telling local ARY News that Islamabad will respond to them.   

“A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, 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 said in a statement. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a statement that the operation targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed. 

“Altogether, nine (9) sites have been targeted. Our actions have been focused, measured, and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” the statement added.  PIB said that these steps came 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. There will be detailed briefing on ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, later today,” the statement added. 

The Pakistani military confirmed that Indian missiles had struck multiple locations inside Pakistani territory, including Kotli, Bahawalpur, Muridke, Bagh and Muzaffarabad, according to a report by Dawn. CNN-News18 has visuals from Muzaffarabad, showing a building reduced to rubble following an Indian airstrike that reportedly targeted a terror base in retaliation for the recent deadly attack in Pahalgam. 

Muzaffarabad   is the largest city and the capital of Azad Kashmir, which is a Pakistani-administered administrative territory. The city is located in Muzaffarabad District, near the confluence of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The district is bounded by the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kupwara and Baramulla districts of Indian- Jammu and Kashmir, and the Neelum District. Muzaffarabad was founded in 1646 by Sultan Muzaffar Khan, chief of the Bomba tribe.  Khan also constructed the Red Fort that same year for the purpose of warding off incursions from the Mughal Empire. 

In 1827, Raja Zabardast Khan, who had succeeded his father Hassan Ali Khan as the Raja of Muzaffarabad, led a guerrilla campaign against the Sikh Empire, targeting their garrisons in Handwara, Baramulla, and the Hazara region. His leadership and strategic strikes disrupted Sikh control in the area. 

Years later, after Indian Independence, the Battle of Muzaffarabad was fought between Pakistani-backed Pashtun tribesmen and pro-Pakistani Kashmiri rebels, and the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces in the town of Muzaffarabad on 22 October 1947. The battle saw defeat of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces and the capture of Muzaffarabad by these tribesmen. 

 

On October 21, 1947, Khurshid Anwar, leader of the Muslim League National Guard, crossed the border into Kashmir with 4,000 Pashtun tribesmen aimed to take Muzaffarabad.  The Pashtun tribesmen in Muzaffarabad spent three days looting and pillaging the town, killing non-Muslims and enslaving non-Muslim women.  They plundered the state armoury, set entire markets on fire and looted their goods, they shot everyone who couldn't recite the kalima - the Arabic-language Muslim declaration of faith. Upon the capture of Muzaffarabad by the Pashtun tribesmen, who were jubilant over their victory and preparing to advance on Srinagar, had begun to exterminate and slaughter the non-Muslim population in Muzaffarabad. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre state in reference to the killing of the Hindusin Muzaffarabad, Their crusade to deliver their Moslem brothers of Kashmir had begun with a nocturnal excursion to the Hindu bazaar of Muzaffarabad." — Freedom at Midnight, p. 351.  Freedom at Midnight (1975) is a book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre about the events around the Indian independence movement and partition. It details the last year of the British Raj, from 1947 to 1948, beginning with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten of Burma as the last viceroy of British India, and ending with the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi.

And in this century on 8^th Oct 2005, an earthquake occurred with its epicenter 19 km northeast of the city of Muzaffarabad, and 90 km north north-east of Islamabad. It registered a moment magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). Although not the largest earthquake to hit this region in terms of magnitude it is considered the deadliest,  surpassing the 1935 Quetta earthquake.  Sources indicate that the official death toll in this quake in Pakistan was between 73,276 and 87,350 with some estimates being as high as over 100,000 dead.  

Muzaffarabad has been a gory land filled with massacres and hatred and has now been targeted for being source of terror.

Love thy Nation !  Jai Hind !!

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
7.5.2025