On the night of 6-7 May, under Operation Sindoor (vermilion marker for married Hindu women), India launched a targeted attack on 9 Pakistan locations claiming these were ‘terror infrastructure’ sites. Pakistan denied involvement in the 22 Apr Pahalgam attack on tourists. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, India will ‘suffer consequences’ of the ‘cowardly attack’. Pakistan retaliation started on 8 May targeting Indian air bases and military camps with drones in the northern and western sectors—Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Panjab. Though India repulsed them with the Russian-made S-400 defence system, the conflict escalated quickly over the next three days when Pakistan used Fatah II missiles. India used BrahMos missiles to target Pakistan air fields. Before the armed conflict, people in Panjab’s villages along the International Border had been expressing their dejection over the growing war hysteria in the rest of India. They knew Panjab is the battlefield for the war with Pakistan and started panic buying of groceries. After missile debris landed in Jethuwal and Makhan Windi, Ferozepur on 8 May, despite no official orders, villagers started evacuating. Seven border police districts mapped underground parkings, school basements, Gurdwaras (Sikh place of learning and worship), and other covered places for possible shelter. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committeeoffered food and shelter to those evacuating from the border areas. In J&K, Sikh and Gujjar-Bakarwal volunteers used tractors and private cars to evacuate families under fire along the Line of Control, supplying food, water and bedding. Indian Panjab cabinet minister Aman Arora said all frontier districts remain on high alert and public events stand cancelled. Pakistan’s Panjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz declared a provincial emergency, closed schools, and recalled medical staff. For three nights, border cities and villages remained under blackout while drone, loitering munition, and missile attacks continued from both sides. Three family members suffered severe burns when a drone hit a Ferozepur residence on 9 May, one has died. Heavy shelling on 9-10 May damaged houses, Temples, and a Gurdwara in Rajouri and Poonch where officials feared multiple civilian deaths (earlier coverage).
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