One Year Of Operation Sindoor, Special Prayers Held At Poonch Gurdwara

Special prayers were held at Gurdwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to pay tribute to victims who got killed in Pakistani shelling following Operation Sindoor. Devotees gathered there to remember and pray for the victims and condemned the attacks on civilians’ areas and religious sites during the shelling.

Twelve people were killed and 34 others injured in artillery and mortar shelling in Poonch, the worst-hit border district, shortly after India launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7 last year. The operation targeted nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) in retribution for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which took 26 lives.

A gurdwara official told reporters that the shrine itself had come under Pakistani shelling during the conflict. “Although there was no loss of life inside the gurdwara, the shrine suffered major damage”. Another shell then hit nearby areas and killed two people, he added.

The official said special prayers were organised to mark the first death anniversary of the victims. He said Pakistan attempted to disturb the communal harmony of the region where Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs had lived together peacefully for generations.

“The shelling did not spare religious places. Shells hit the gurdwara, langar hall, temples, and mosques alike. An Islamiya teacher at a mosque was also killed,” he recalled.

The official added that the government has employed one member of each family affected, but nothing can compensate for the lives lost in the conflict.

The Pakistani response involved heavy artillery and mortar shelling targeting dozens of villages and densely populated civilian areas, including a gurdawara, temple, and a mosque in Mankote, Mendhar, Thandi Kassi, and Poonch town.

Among those killed were two minor siblings, Mohd Zain Khan (10) and his elder sister Zoya Khan (12). Another victim, Balvinder Kour, was killed after a mortar shell struck her house in Mankote, while her 13-year-old daughter sustained injuries.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. The operation was successfully carried out with airstrikes on nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The action triggered a rapid escalation in tensions with Pakistan launching retaliatory strikes, though most of them were combated by the Indian forces. The conflict ended with an understanding on halting the military actions on May 10 following talks over the hotline between army officials of the two sides.