New Delhi: After Pakistan violated Saturday’s ceasefire agreement by opening fire along the Line of Control and sending drones into Indian territory overnight, India communicated with Rawalpindi its intent to respond to future provocations “fiercely and punitively”, the military said on Sunday (May 11).

At a press conference held by the defence ministry, the military also said that it had downed “a few” Pakistani planes but declined to comment on whether the Indian armed forces lost any aircraft during the course of Operation Sindoor.

During the briefing conducted by Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, Vice Admiral A.N. Pramod and Major General S.S. Sharda, it was also conveyed that the Indian military lost five personnel during the operation and that the Pakistani army is reported to have lost 35 to 40 personnel in artillery and small arms firing along the Line of Control.

The briefing provided a detailed account of India’s military actions under Operation Sindoor, which was launched early on May 7 in retaliation to the April 22 terror attack Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians.

The operation saw India target nine terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Lieutenant General Ghai said over 100 terrorists were killed, including individuals linked to the 1999 IC 814 hijacking and the 2019 Pulwama attack.

Among those named were Yousuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Ral and Mudasir Ahmed.

The navy, Vice Admiral Pramod said, had deployed its carrier battle group, submarines and surveillance assets in a combat-ready posture after Pahalgam and at a point was in a position to strike “select targets at sea and on land”, including Karachi, “at a time of our choosing”.

He said the navy’s presence contributed to Pakistan seeking the ceasefire, which as per him was proposed by the Pakistani director general of military operations in a hotline call on Saturday.

The ceasefire was agreed to on Saturday afternoon and was to take effect from 5:00 pm the same day.

However, Lieutenant General Ghai stated that violations took place starting Saturday evening, including drone intrusions and fresh firing along the Line of Control, and continued until early on Sunday morning.

A second hotline communication was initiated earlier today to register India’s protest.

During the call, India conveyed its “firm and clear intent to respond to these [violations] fiercely and punitively if repeated tonight, subsequently or later”, Lieutenant General Ghai said.

He added that Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi earlier today granted Indian army commanders “full authority” “for counter actions in the kinetic domain” in the event of Pakistani violations of the ceasefire.

When Air Marshal Bharti was asked how many Pakistani planes the Indian military had downed, he said that India has “definitely” downed “a few planes” but declined to “hazard a guess”.

“As I said, their planes were prevented from coming inside our border. So we do not have the wreckage with us,” he said.

The airman was also asked how many assets the armed forces lost during India’s military confrontation with Pakistan over the last week in light of Islamabad’s claim to have downed Indian fighter jets.

He responded that “we are in a combat situation and losses are a part of combat”, but declined to divulge any details, saying that doing so would be to Pakistan’s advantage.

“The question that you must ask us – and indeed, that we must ask ourselves, you inclusive – is ‘have we achieved our objective … of decimating their terrorist camps’. The answer is a thumping yes. And the results are for the whole world to see,” Air Marshal Bharti said.

He added that “all our pilots are back home”.

Amid Islamabad’s claim, there has been speculation and reportage in the international media, which cited intelligence sources, that one or more Indian Rafale fighters may have been downed.

Air Marshal Bharti also elaborated on the air force’s operations during Operation Sindoor. Precision air-to-surface guided munitions were used to strike targets to avoid collateral damage, he said.

“Our response was directed only at military installations, avoiding civilian and collateral damage,” the airman added.

The air force presented strike footage showing damage to training compounds, radar sites and airfields.

In response to Pakistani drone intrusions beginning on May 7, Bharti said Indian air defences intercepted multiple unmanned aerial vehicles over civilian and military installations.

“[A] few of them did manage to land, however there was not much damage that they did,” he said.

India also conducted calibrated strikes on Pakistani radar installations at Lahore and near Gujranwala in response to Pakistan’s targeting Indian civilians and military installations after India’s missile strikes against terrorist infrastructure on May 7, he said.

India and Pakistan are expected to resume talks at the director general of military operations-level on Monday to discuss modalities for a sustained ceasefire.

Earlier in the day, government sources had said that Operation Sindoor would continue even as the ceasefire has taken effect between India and Pakistan.

“Operation Sindoor is not over, we are in the new normal. The world has to accept this. Pakistan has to accept this. It cannot be business as usual,” sources said.

US President Donald Trump was the first to announce the ceasefire on Saturday, which he said had been arrived at “after a long night of talks mediated by the United States”.

His secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Saturday that he and Vice President J.D. Vance had engaged with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistani army chief Asim Munir, “over the past 48 hours”.

Islamabad has acknowledged and thanked Washington for its role in mediating the ceasefire but India has so far not publicly mentioned the US.

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