Operation Sindoor: Punjab government orders all-night complete blackout in Gurdaspur district

The Punjab government announced a complete blackout in the Gurdaspur district from 9:00 pm to 5:00 am, effective from May 8, 2025, until further notice, amid escalating tensions along the India-Pakistan border following Operation Sindoor.

The government released a statement saying that, "Due to a sensitive environment on the Indo-Pak border, guidelines of the Government of India and the Government of Punjab. According to this, further orders will be issued from 08.05.2025 to deal with the emergency situation under the Civil Defense Act 1968. From 9.00 pm to 5.00 am the next day, there will be complete "black out" in district Gurdaspur. This order will not be applicable in Central Jail Gurdaspur and hospitals."

"Though, the windows of Gurdaspur jail and hospitals will be closed every day from 9.00 pm to 5.00 am the next day," the statement added.

This comes after India negated the attempts made by Pakistan on the night of 7-8 May to engage several military targets in the northern as well as western part of the country.

The missiles and drones launched by Pakistan were "neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems".

Responding to Islamabad's bid to escalate tensions, Indian armed forces targeted Air Defence radars and systems at several locations in Pakistan, including Lahore. 

"On the night of 07-08 May 2025, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks," the Indian government said in a statement.

"Today morning Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. Indian response has been in the same domain with the same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised," the statement added.

Meanwhile, India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Thursday (May 8), said that a large number of terrorists were killed in Operation Sindoor, where the Indian military targeted and destroyed nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While speaking at the National Quality Conclave, Singh congratulated the Indian armed forces, stating that the terror camps in Pakistan and PoK were neutralised, calling it a matter of pride for the entire nation.