By Daud Khattak May 10, 2025
Pakistan has launched a military operation against India after accusing it of firing missiles at three Pakistani air bases late on May 9 in another major escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Pakistani security sources told Radio Mashaal that the operation is codenamed Bunyanun Marsoos, an Arabic word taken from a verse in the Koran meaning a strong pillar.
In an indication of the gravity of the situation, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called an urgent meeting of the National Command Authority for May 10. The authority, among other functions, deals with the nuclear arms policy.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir and urged both sides to find ways to de-escalate, a State Department statement said.
Rubio also offered US assistance in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts, spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
Pakistan’s Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) said that a depot used to store India’s Brahmos missiles had been destroyed. The military said attacks on several other locations, including the Pathankot Airfield and Udhampur Airforce Station, had also taken place. Pakistan also said it fired Fatah 1 missiles on the two Indian air bases.
The Indian Army called Pakistan’s actions unacceptable.
“Pakistan’s blatant escalation with drone strikes and other munitions continues along our western borders. In one such incident, today at approximately 5 AM, Multiple enemy armed drones were spotted flying over Khasa Cantt, Amritsar,” the army said on X. “The hostile drones were instantly engaged and destroyed by our air defence units.”
The fresh attacks started hours after Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister left Pakistan. Adel Al-Jubeir was in Islamabad to meet with Sharif, according to a statement. He visited India before landing in Islamabad on May 9 for talks with Pakistani leaders.
Pakistani security sources also claimed that a simultaneous cyberattack was also launched and electrical power in several cities has been cut.
The security sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that the Pakistani side has decided that if India launched more attacks, they would hit the highways in India.
Pakistan said earlier that missiles, apparently fired by India, had fallen at different locations in Pakistan.
One of the missiles hit the Noor Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi city. The air base is where the military has its headquarters and is less than 30 kilometers from key buildings, including the Presidential House, the House of Parliament, and the prime minister’s house, in the Pakistani central capital city of Islamabad.
Fahim Ahmad, a resident of Rawalpindi city, who lives near the Noor Khan Air base, told Radio Mashaal, he saw an object blasted out of the air and drop near the air base.
Ahmad said alarm sirens went off, heightening fears of a large escalation just days after Indian air strikes claimed multiple lives in Pakistan, prompting Sharif to vow retaliation.
Speaking at a hastily arranged news conference soon after the missiles were fired on Pakistan late on May 9, the director-general of the ISPR, Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif, said an attack by India to target the Noor Khan Airbase had been foiled.
Two other missiles were fired at two other air bases — Murid Airbase and Shorkot Airbase — he said. Sharif claimed that India also fired some missiles in Afghanistan.
An explosion was reported in the city of Peshawar in the early hours of May 10, according to Radio Mashaal correspondent Wasim Sajjad.
“We were awakened by the sound of an explosion around 3:00 a.m. (local time), which was followed by firing from the ground,” Sajjad said. “We saw lights going from the ground toward the sky with sounds of firing that continued for nearly an hour.”
The explosion drew people out of their houses and apartments into the dark night, said Sajjad.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals have soared since an attack at a popular tourist site in India-controlled Kashmir killed 26 civilians, mostly Hindu Indian tourists, on April 22. New Delhi has blamed Pakistan for backing the assault, an accusation Islamabad rejects.
Azaz Seyed, author and journalist, told Radio Mashaal that the world is not taking interest in stopping a looming full-fledged conflict between India and Pakistan.
Seyed said only two countries, Saudi Arabia and Iran, were pro-actively engaged, while the United States has only issued some statements and no pro-active diplomacy was visible.
The Group of Seven countries on May 9 urged maximum restraint from both India and Pakistan and called on them to engage in direct dialogue.
The foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the European Union said they “strongly condemn” a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir on April 22 and “urge maximum restraint from both India and Pakistan.”
“We call for immediate de-escalation and encourage both countries to engage in direct dialogue towards a peaceful outcome,” the G7 statement said.
Indian and Pakistani forces on May 7 exchanged artillery fire after Indian air strikes claimed multiple lives. Both sides reported several fatalities in the shelling. Pakistan also claimed to have shot down several Indian jets.
Indian forces on May 6 hit targets across Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Pakistan’s Punjab Province.
India said it carried out “precision strikes” against “terrorists” following the attack in Indian-administered Kashmir two weeks ago that killed 26 Hindu tourists.
India had earlier said that two of three suspects in that attack were Pakistani nationals but had not detailed any evidence. Pakistan denied that it had anything to do with the killings.
India and Pakistan, who got their independence from Britain in 1947, fought three full-scale wars in 1948, 1965, and 1971, and a limited conflict in 1999. The central issue remains the Kashmir valley, which India regards as its Atoot Ang (integral part), while Pakistan sees it as the “unfinished agenda of partition” of the Indian sub-continent.
Kashmir is divided between three nuclear-armed neighbors, with India controlling about 45 percent, Pakistan about 35 percent, and China — following a brief war with India in 1962 — occupying the remaining 20 percent.
Source: sharif-missiles-air-base/33409927.html
Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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