Today (May 7) is the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
India conducted the operation in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, in which over two dozen people were killed. At the time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India would strike back at a time and place of its choosing.
He also said India would not give in to nuclear blackmail. Then, 15 days later, India surprised Pakistan with its reply to the Pahalgam terror attack.
But this is far from the only such operation India has conducted against Pakistan. India carried out similar strikes in both 2019 and 2016. But what do we know about the strikes? What were the differences between the operations?
Let’s take a closer look:
Uri in September 2016
The Uri surgical strikes were carried out on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 28, 2016. This came after Jaish-e-Mohammad—a Pakistan-based terror group backed by the deep state—carried out a terror attack on September 16 in the border town of Uri in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. The attack, in which JeM terrorists launched over a dozen grenades, caused the deaths of 19 soldiers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time had vowed that the “despicable attack” in Uri “will not go unpunished.”
India soon replied. On the intervening night of September 28 and 29, New Delhi used heliborne and ground forces to hit seven terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC). Defence sources at the time said that the launch pads in PoK were around two to three kilometres away from the LoC.
They had been under surveillance for more than a week. Indian media at the time estimated that there were between 35 and 70 casualties.
Balakot airstrike in 2019
On February 26, 2019,
the Indian Air Force conducted air strikes against terrorist training camps at Balakot inside Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
This operation came nearly two weeks after JeM carried out the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed. Around 2,000 jawans had been travelling in a long convoy of vehicles on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway when they were attacked by Adil Ahmad Dar, a vehicle-borne suicide bomber. The horrific incident, one of the deadliest in Indian history, left the nation shocked and the Indian government determined to respond.
As per Indian Express, Modi at the time reportedly told top officials, “Jawab toh dena padega. Par aap behtar jaante hain kya-kya kar sakte hain” (We need to give a response. But you know better what all can be done). The response came around 3:30 am on February 26, 2019. A fleet of a dozen Mirage 2000 fighter jets, equipped with Israeli-made SPICE 2000 precision-guided munitions (PGMs), crossed the Line of Control (LoC)
and hit a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training camp in Balakot, Pakistan.
The facility is said to have been one of JeM’s largest training centres, where operatives were trained for suicide missions. Indian officials have said that “many terrorists” of the JeM, including senior commanders, were killed. India said it hit three targets in the 21-minute mission—named Operation Bandar—carried out by the Indian Air Force’s seventh and ninth squadrons.
New Delhi also said there were zero civilian casualties.
Operation Sindoor in May 2025
India’s Operation Sindoor began between 1:00 and 1:30 am on May 7, 2025. Nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were targeted for precision airstrikes, including Jaish-e-Mohammad’s headquarters in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s terror nursery in Muridke.
Over 100 terrorists, including Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf and Mudasir Ahmed—who were involved in the IC-814 hijacking and the Pulwama terror attack in 2019—were taken out by India. Though Pakistan responded with a swarm of drones and missiles, India neutralised those with its air defences, many of which were designed and manufactured indigenously, including the Akash missile system and the Surface-to-Air Missile for Assured Retaliation (SAMAR) system.
India also targeted key Pakistani bases, including Chaklala, Rafiqui and Rahim Yar Khan, and took out several high-tech Pakistani aircraft, including US-made F-16s or Chinese-made J-10Cs.
The difference between the three operations
Let’s begin with Uri. While India had conducted cross-border strikes prior to Uri, this was the first time New Delhi had done so on such a magnitude. Also, prior to Uri, the strikes were conducted covertly and kept under wraps. This was the first time India had publicly acknowledged carrying out such a strike. The Indian government has since designated September 29 as ‘Surgical Strike Day’.
The Balakot airstrike, on the other hand, was the first Indian aerial offensive inside Pakistan since the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. It was the first time Indian fighter jets had crossed the LoC since that war. It also demonstrated India’s willingness to target terrorist infrastructure “deep inside the heart” of Pakistan.
Operation Sindoor, on the other hand, saw India hit targets deep inside Pakistan. It was the most extensive such strike India had conducted and took out the most terrorists of all three operations. Unlike the earlier strikes, India during Operation Sindoor refused to relent until the Pakistan DGMO reached out to his Indian counterpart.
This operation, unlike the two previous ones, also saw all three branches of the Indian Armed Forces working together. This operation was a wide-ranging one compared to the limited previous missions. India hit Pakistan with 24 missile strikes – the most it has ever launched in a single-day action.
Pakistan’s response to Operation Sindoor, which was entirely blunted by India, also showcased the efficacy of its Made-in-India defence systems to the world.
India also resoundingly won the narrative battle by putting out satellite images showing the damage it had caused to key Pakistani airbases and military facilities. Little wonder then that Pakistan, for the first time, admitted that it had suffered damage to its airbases, including Nur Khan, as well as key military installations.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in the aftermath of the airstrikes, said that he was personally informed about the attacks by Army Chief General Asim Munir. Operation Sindoor, perhaps most importantly, yet again redefined the rules of engagement between the two nations by showing that it would make no distinction between terrorists and those who backed them.
The Uri and Balakot strikes were responses to terror attacks carried out by JeM, while Operation Sindoor was a reply to an attack from The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The Uri and Balakot strikes both came around 10–12 days after the terror attacks from Pakistan-backed groups, while Operation Sindoor was conducted 15 days after the Pahalgam attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in the Lok Sabha last year during a discussion on Operation Sindoor, outlined the differences between all three operations. Modi said the Uri strike was done with the intention of taking out terrorist launchpads. He said the Balakot strike in 2019 was conducted with the aim of destroying terrorist training centres in Pakistan. He added that the aim behind Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam attack in 2025 was to entirely dismantle the epicentres of terrorism in Pakistan. All three operations, incidentally, were conducted during Modi’s time in office, which began in 2014.
FAQs
1. What was the main difference between Uri, Balakot and Operation Sindoor?
Uri targeted terror launch pads near the LoC, Balakot struck a training camp deep inside Pakistan, while Operation Sindoor hit multiple high-value targets and involved all three armed forces.
2. How long after attacks did India respond in each case?
Uri and Balakot responses came within 10–12 days, while Operation Sindoor was carried out 15 days after the Pahalgam attack.
3. Why is Operation Sindoor considered the most significant?
It was the largest and most coordinated strike, targeted multiple locations deep inside Pakistan, and demonstrated advanced indigenous defence capabilities.
With inputs from agencies
First Published:
May 07, 2026, 07:05 IST
End of Article
