&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Pak President Zardari was told to rush inside bunker when Operation Sindoor strikes started")
India’s military action after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack set off alarms at the highest levels of the leadership in Pakistan, including President Asif Ali Zardari who has revealed that he was advised to take shelter in a bunker when the strikes started during the escalation in May. Speaking at a public event on Saturday, Zardari said his Military Secretary warned him that war had begun as Indian armed forces carried out precision strikes under Operation Sindoor, launched in retaliation to the killing of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. “My Military Secretary came to me and said, ‘Sir, the war has started. Let’s go to the bunkers,’” Zardari said, adding that he refused to follow his secretary’s advice.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting Pakistani military installations after earlier operations struck nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Officials described the strikes as precise and limited, aimed at destroying terror infrastructure and deterring further attacks. Irked by the precision strikes, Pakistan also intensified cross-border shelling. The situation raised fears of a wider military confrontation between the two countries.
Zardari’s comment is a rare public acknowledgement of the concern within Pakistan’s top leadership about their own security during the crisis.
The hostilities eased after Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations contacted his Indian counterpart to propose a ceasefire. India accepted the proposal.
The outreach from the Pakistani side was later confirmed by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who said both countries agreed to stop all military operations on land, at sea and in the air.
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The May strikes marked one of the most serious military confrontations between India and Pakistan in recent years before the ceasefire took effect.
‘Even Asim Munir was inside the bunker when India attacked’
Reacting to Zardari’s statement, Lt Gen (Retd) KJS Dhillon told ANI, “Asif Ali Zardari is Mr 10% of Pakistan. He has a black past and is the most corrupt politician. That’s why they have put him in a corner and made him a President who has no say... Even Asim Munir was inside the bunker when India attacked. All the political leadership, all the military commanders, were in the bunkers. Only their soldiers were fighting it out, and they got killed. Even this is a lie that he knew it 4 days in advance. If they knew it four days in advance, why couldn’t they stop a single missile from hitting nine targets? If a four-day warning was given to the military and they could do nothing, it only shows their military is useless...”
