Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan revealed why the armed forces decided to launch Operation Sindoor at midnight in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
India carried out precision airstrikes in Pakistan and PoK on May 7, targeting at least nine terrorist targets, in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
At an event in Ranchi, CDS Chauhan said about the midnight strike instead of 6 a.m., "Why did we launch the strike at 1:30 a.m.? That's the darkest time; obtaining satellite images, photographs, and gathering evidence is the most difficult. Yet, we launched the strike at 1 or 1:30 a.m."
He said the decision to launch the airstrikes in the dark of night was based on two main reasons. “First, we were confident in our abilities to take photographs even at night. And the second important reason was that we wanted to avoid civilian casualties.”
The Chief of Defence Staff said that the best time to attack Pakistan would have been between 5:30 and 6 am, but there would have been a lot of civilian movement during that time due to the morning prayers. He revealed, “The first Azaan takes place at that time, and there could have been a lot of civilian movement in Bahawalpur and Muridke, which could have resulted in many civilian casualties… We wanted to avoid this, so we chose the time between 1:00 and 1:30 am.”
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