New Delhi: Pakistan did target the Golden Temple in Amritsar with missiles and drones during Operation Sindoor, the Army has confirmed. The Golden Temple is considered one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, and is visited by people of all religions.
On Monday, Major General Kartik C Seshadri, general officer commanding (GOC), 15 Infantry Division, confirmed that India had anticipated such retaliation and intercepted all incoming threats to the Golden Temple.
According to him, Pakistan attempted to target the site with drones and missiles on the intervening night of May 7–8 in retaliation against India’s strikes on nine terror facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Maj Gen Seshadri said that Pakistan deliberately chose to attack military, civilian and religious sites in India after it realised that there were no legitimate targets.
“Knowing that the Pakistan Army does not have any legitimate targets, we anticipated that they would target Indian military installations and civilian targets, including religious places. Of these, the Golden Temple appeared to be the most prominent,” the GOC said.
“We mobilised additional modern air defence assets to give a holistic air defence umbrella cover to the Golden Temple,” he added.
The attack came in the early hours of May 8. Pakistan launched a large-scale air assault using drones and long-range missiles under the cover of darkness.
“On May 8 early morning, in the hours of darkness, Pakistan carried out a massive air assault with unmanned aerial weapons, primarily drones and long-range missiles,” Maj Gen Seshadri said, adding that the Indian Army was fully prepared and thus intercepted and destroyed all incoming threats.
“We were fully prepared since we had anticipated this, and our braveheart and alert army air defence gunners thwarted Pakistan Army’s nefarious designs and shot down all drones and missiles targeted at the Golden Temple. Thus, not even a scratch was allowed to come on our holy Golden Temple,” he reiterated.
The Indian Army also conducted a demonstration to showcase how its air defence systems — such as the AKASH missile system and L-70 Air Defence Guns — successfully intercepted and neutralised incoming Pakistani drones and missiles, protecting the Golden Temple and key cities across Punjab.
A defence ministry statement had earlier confirmed that multiple Indian cities and military bases were targeted in the overnight assault, including Amritsar, Jammu, Srinagar, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, and Bhuj.
“These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter-UAS Grid and Air Defence systems,” the statement said.
