‘Our job is to hit targets, not rely physique baggage’, says Air Marshal Bharti on Pakistan Military casualties in Operation Sindoor

Air Marshal AK Bharti addressed the media on Sunday relating to the precision strikes carried out by the Indian armed forces as a part of Operation Sindoor. The operation, which commenced on Could 7 to strike a number of terror websites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir following a lethal assault in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam the place 26 vacationers misplaced their lives.

Air Marshal Bharti confirmed that the strikes had the “desired results on the enemy targets” however didn’t elaborate on the variety of casualties sustained by the Pakistan Military. When requested in regards to the lack of life, he emphasised that the target was to not inflict casualties. “Our job is to hit the goal, to not rely the physique baggage,” he mentioned, including, “In case there have been casualties, it’s for them to rely.”

Refraining from disclosing technical particulars of the weapons and calibres used within the operation, Bharti cited operational confidentiality. “I by no means talked about any of the weapons and calibre that we used—we depart it at that. These are issues of operational particulars that I’d not wish to get into,” he mentioned.

The Air Marshal reiterated that the chosen strategies had achieved the supposed outcomes, underscoring that the first objective was to strike the targets successfully. “What number of casualties? What number of accidents? Our purpose was to not inflict casualties, however in case there have been, it’s for them to rely,” he added.

In the meantime, Director Basic Army Operations (DGMO) Lieutenant Basic Rajeev Ghai mentioned that greater than 100 terrorists, together with these concerned within the 1999 Indian Airways flight (IC-814) hijacking, and the 2019 Pulwama terror assault, have been eradicated within the precision strikes carried out by the armed forces in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) beneath Operation Sindoor.

He mentioned that Operation Sindoor was conceptualised with a exact navy purpose to “punish the perpetrators and planners of the Pahalgam terror assault.” “Operation Sindoor was conceptualised with a transparent navy purpose to punish the perpetrators and planners of terror and to destroy their terror infrastructure. What I don’t state right here is the usually acknowledged dedication of India and its intolerance to terror,” Ghai mentioned in a press convention right here.

The Indian strikes killed “high-value targets”, particularly, Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf and Mudasir Ahmed, who have been concerned within the hijacking of IC 814, popularly referred to as the Kandahar hijack, and the Pulwama assault, the place 40 CRPF jawans have been killed in 2019.

“These strikes throughout these 9 terror hubs left greater than 100 terrorists killed, together with high-value targets corresponding to Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf and Mudasir Ahmed, who have been concerned within the hijack of IC814 and the Pulwama blast,” the DGMO added.

Ghai additionally knowledgeable that the Indian Air Power and the Indian Navy performed a “main half” in these strikes. DGMO Ghai mentioned that the brutal Pahalgam terror assault and the “quite a few different” such assaults on armed forces and defenceless civilians prompted India to make a “compelling assertion of our resolve as a nation” in opposition to terrorism.

“You’re all by now accustomed to the brutality and the dastardly method during which 26 harmless lives have been prematurely terminated at Pahalgam on April 22. Once you mix these horrific scenes and the ache of the households that the nation witnessed with quite a few different latest terrorist strikes on our armed forces and defenceless civilians, we knew that the time had arrived to make yet one more compelling assertion of our resolve as a nation,” he mentioned.

With inputs from businesses