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Watch: Army shows how India's air defence foiled Pakistan's bid to strike Amritsar's Golden Temple

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The Times Of Indiapublisher-detail-arrow
19th May, 2025 10:13 IST
NEW DELHI: In a powerful display of operational preparedness, Army on Monday demonstrated how the air defence air system, including indigenous AKASH missile system and L-70 Air Defence Guns, successfully intercepted Pakistani missile and drone attacks, saving several cities in Punjab, especially the Golden Temple from destruction.

The demonstration comes days after heightened tensions between India and Pakistan . The escalation began in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent people. India responded on May 7 with Operation Sindoor targeting major terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Following this, Pakistan launched numerous missile and drone attacks targeting border areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana, which were thwarted by armed forces.


Major General Kartik C Seshadri, GOC, 15 Infantry Division, said, "Knowing that Pak Army does not have any legitimate targets, we anticipated that they would target Indian military installations, civilian targets, including religious places. Of these, Golden Temple appeared to be the most prominent."

He added that Army "mobilised additional modern air defence assets to give a holistic air defence umbrella cover to Golden Temple."


Talking about Pakistan's massive air assault with unmanned aerial weapons, primarily drones and long-range missiles, during the early morning on May 8, Seshadri said, "We were fully prepared since we had anticipated this."

"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 allowing even a scratch to come on our holy Golden Temple," he added.



"Consequent to Pak Army-sponsored dastardly terrorist attack on innocent tourists both domestic and international, the nation's anger under able leadership took the form of Operation Sindoor, wherein befitting punitive strikes were carried out on exclusive terror targets. Nine targets were hit. Of the nine targets, seven were exclusively destroyed by the Indian Army . Of these targets, the Muridke, which is in proximity to Lahore, houses the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba headquarters as also the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) headquarters at Bahawalpur, which were struck with absolute precision. Soon after the strikes, we issued a statement clarifying that we intentionally did not target any Pakistani military or civilian infrastructure," he said.

Seshadri further said that Army is a professional, righteous and responsible force, which in spite of grave provocations has always responded in a calibrated and measured manner.

"We target only terrorists in known terrorist camps with precision weapons, ensuring that there is no collateral damage, a fact which even Pakistan Army has admitted during operations."

The official noted that Pakistani Army has no legitimate targets to strike inside India, nor does it have the courage or capability to stand up to Indian Armed Forces face-to-face. "Hence, it uses terrorism as a national policy and resorts to unmanned aerial weapons launched from its own soil," he said.


"Drones and long-range missiles were launched and fired from its own territory. Indian military installations, civilian population centers, including innocent ladies and children were also not spared and were considered as legitimate targets by the Pakistan military. They have even targeted religious places, specifically a case in point being the Golden Temple located in Amritsar, which is internationally renowned and a place of faith for everybody. It saw a surfeit of drone and missile attacks, which were thwarted bravely by our Army air defence gunners. The Indian Armed Forces and Army Air Defence gunners will continue to defeat all its designs and thwart all aerial threats," the official added.

Speaking on Operation Sindoor, soldiers of the Panther Division of Army said, "We are representatives of the panther. We will enter and kill the enemy from within, now we don't fear anyone. There is revenge in the mind, there is passion in the heart and pride in the eyes. To uproot terrorism, India has launched Operation Sindoor."


A local of one of the villages near the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, Jasbir Singh said, "Our army is the pride of our nation. We are able to live in our cities because our army secures our borders. It is because of them that we are living here peacefully. In the tensions that arose in recent days, the army came here near our village and fields. We stood with our army as much as we could, and they also fulfilled the promise of protecting us."

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