IAF jets remained within India's airspace but violated Pakistan's sovereignty, Islamabad says; vows response under Article 51 of UN Charter

New Delhi has dismissed Islamabad’s allegation that the Operation Sindoor had resulted in the death of civilians.

New Delhi: Islamabad has said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets remained within the airspace of India while striking targets at Muridke and Bahawalpur in Pakistan, as well as Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)—areas illegally occupied by Pakistan.

"Pakistan reserves the right to respond to Operation Sindoor appropriately at a time and place of its choosing, in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations and international laws”, a military spokesperson said at the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the armed forces of the neighbouring country in Rawalpindi, shortly after the IAF carried out the strikes in response to the April 22 killing of 26 people in a terrorist attack at Baisaran near Pahalgam in J&K.

Article 51 of the UN Charter outlines the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a member state of the international organisation.

Islamabad termed India’s Operation Sindoor as “blatant aggression” violating the sovereignty of Pakistan. A military spokesperson of the Pakistan Army noted that the fighter jets of the IAF used “standoff weapons”, targeting the civilian population at Muridke and Bahawalpur on Pakistan’s side of the undisputed stretch of its border with India, as well as in Kotli and Muzaffarabad across its Line of Control with India.

“India’s act of aggression has resulted in the martyrdom of civilians, including women and children. This act of aggression has also caused a grave threat to commercial air traffic,” the spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces said, condemning India’s “cowardly action”, which, according to him, flagrantly violated the Charter of the United Nations, international laws, and established norms of inter-state relations.

New Delhi, however, dismissed Islamabad’s allegation that the Operation Sindoor had resulted in the death of civilians.

India’s actions against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and the J&K areas under the control of Pakistan had been focused and precise. “They (the actions) were measured, responsible and designed to be non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani civilian, economic or military targets have been hit. Only known terror camps were targeted,” the Embassy of India in Washington, DC stated in a press release.