A woman rows her boat across Dal Lake in Srinagar.
Credit: PTI Photo
Srinagar: In a startling discovery, debris suspected to be from a missile fired from Pakistan during the May hostilities has been found in Srinagar’s Dal Lake on Tuesday, over four months after Operation Sindoor marked one of the sharpest military escalations between India and Pakistan in recent years.
Officials said the debris was spotted on Sunday during a routine cleaning drive carried out by the Lake Conservation and Management Authority. Workers alerted the police, who then handed over the material to the Air Force for further forensic examination.
“It was found during a usual cleaning operation at Dal Lake,” a police official said. “It is likely a missile. The make is not yet clear, but we suspect it was fired by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May. We had received some reports that day of a missile-like object hitting the water body.”
On May 10, Pakistan fired a volley of missiles and drones across the Line of Control following India’s Operation Sindoor in response to the Pahalgam terror attack that had killed 25 tourists, triggering a fierce exchange.
While Indian forces intercepted several projectiles, one suspected missile was reported to have fallen in the Dal Lake, but extensive searches at the time yielded nothing.
Sources said the recovered debris could be part of that projectile, and initial assessment suggests it may have been a Fateh-series missile, a short-range ballistic system in Pakistan’s arsenal.
“The target could have been a military installation in Srinagar. The Dal Lake is less than a kilometre from the Army’s 15 Corps headquarters at Badami Bagh,” sources said. “The exact make would only be known after Air Force labs complete their forensic tests.”
Drone and missile threats have been a growing dimension of cross-border hostilities in Kashmir. In recent years, Pakistan has increasingly relied on drones to push weapons, narcotics and explosives into J&K, even as the May confrontation witnessed the first reported large-scale use of missiles in the Valley since the 1999 Kargil War.
Operation Sindoor, which India described as a “measured but strong retaliatory posture,” saw aerial duels and missile interceptions over several days, leading to heightened concerns about escalation spiraling into a wider conflict.
The latest discovery not only corroborates the reports from May but also underlines the risks faced by civilian zones in Kashmir, where dense habitations and sensitive military installations exist in close proximity.
Officials said that while no immediate threat remains from the recovered debris, its forensic analysis would provide vital clues about the type of missile used and Pakistan’s targeting intent during the operation.