PM Modi to address nation at 8 pm today amid Operation Sindoor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 8 pm on Monday amid Operation Sindoor. This comes amid the heightening tensions and military offensives between India and Pakistan. India on Monday reiterated that Operation Sindoor was a targeted response against terrorism and its support infrastructure, lamenting that Pakistan chose to stand with terrorists rather than remain neutral, prompting a necessary military retaliation.

"We have also reiterated that our fight was against terrorism and their support infrastructure and not with the Pakistan military. However, it is a pity that the Pakistani military chose to intervene and that for terrorists, which compelled us to respond," said Director of Air Operations Air Marshal AK Bharti, Director General Air Operations, during a joint DGMO press briefing on Monday. He clarified that India's strikes on May 7 targeted only terrorist hideouts, but Pakistan's direct military support to the terrorists turned the situation into an avoidable confrontation.

Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian Armed Forces in the early hours of May 7, targeting nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK). This operation was a retaliatory response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians, including one Nepali national, were killed.

On Saturday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed that Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations contacted his Indian counterpart. The two sides agreed to halt all military actions, on land, at sea, and in the air, effective from 5 pm.

(With inputs from ANI)

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