New Delhi:
India and Pakistan were at war for a little less than 100 hours before a ceasefire, effective 5pm May 10, brought them back from the edge of a tit-for-tat military escalation that could have led to nuclear war, a prospect the world cannot afford.
The ceasefire was facilitated by United States President Donald Trump, whose administration held overnight talks with counterparts in New Delhi and Islamabad, and talked each side down.
This round of India-Pak hostilities began nearly 20 days ago – with the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, in which 26 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
India said it had evidence the Pak deep state was linked to the attack, but Pak denied the charge. India pointed to links between Pakistan and earlier attacks, including Pulwama in 2019.
Early May 7 (Wednesday) India launched Operation Sindoor, precision strikes on terror camps in Pak and Pak-occupied Kashmir. Pak retaliated that night with the first of three waves of attacks.
NDTV works back through the key military events in this big story.
On the afternoon of May 10 (Saturday) civilian populations on both sides of the border were bracing themselves for another night of air raid sirens, blackouts, and drone and missile attacks.
But, as evening approached, news filtered through that the US – which had vacillated between mediating or standing off – had managed to broker a ceasefire, albeit a conditional one.
The condition was that India would not reactivate the Indus Waters Treaty.
Hours earlier India had accused Pak of attacking 26 urban centres, including targeting military bases near Udhampur in J&K, Adampur and Pathankot in Punjab, and Bhuj in Gujarat.
India said Pak had committed a “cowardly act” – targeting civilian infrastructure, including schools and medical centres. The government argued this constituted an unacceptable shift in tactics, pointing out its forces had specifically attacked only enemy military installations.
The death of a senior government official in J&K’s Rajouri and injuries to civilians in Punjab’s Ferozepur on the night of May 9 (Friday) were red-flagged by the Indian military.
Pakistan, meanwhile, accused India of ‘unprovoked aggression’ and said 11 people, including a child, had been killed and over 50 others injured in overnight air strikes and artillery shelling.
The two also traded claims of having struck decisively at the other’s military bases.
On Friday night Pak had launched its third wave of drones and missiles, most of which were again shot down or neutralised by India’s air defences. That attack continued well into May 10; drones were sighted over Punjab’s Amritsar at 5 am and Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer at 1 pm.
But by this time Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being briefed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval; this, we know now, was after Trump’s team held overnight talks with both sides.
Late May 8 (Thursday) night Pak’s second wave fired 300 to 400 drones – including Turkish-made Asisguard SONGARs – at 36 western Indian towns and cities. Fifty of these were shot down and several more neutralised by jamming radio frequencies, the Indian military said.
India’s air defence network – which includes the integrated counter-unmanned aerial system, or C-UAS, and the indigenously developed Akash missile defence system – emerged as heroes.
The two nations traded claims of having shot down each other’s fighter jets; Pak said it had downed one of India’s brand new French-made Rafales while India said it had hit the Pak Air Force’s US-made F-16 and a Chinese J-17.
The first wave of attacks was on May 7 (Wednesday) and saw Pak fire 15 missiles at Indian cities, including eight at locations in J&K alone. India neutralised these missiles and responded by launching Israeli HARPY drones that took out some of Pak air defences, including in Lahore.
