Refused shelter in bunker during Operation Sindoor alarm: Zardari

India’s military action Operation Sindoor against Pakistan after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack killing 26 innocents sent alarm bells in the political and security establishment there and President Asif Ali Zardari was asked to move to a bunker for his safety.

He made this admission during an event in Islamabad on Saturday and claimed he refused to take shelter in a bunker.

During Operation Sindoor in May, India targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK through precision strikes and repelled the subsequent Pakistani aggression by pounding its airbases. “My MS (Military Secretary) was there. He came to me and said, ‘Sir, the war has started.’ I had actually told him four days earlier that a war was going to happen. But he came to me and said, ‘Sir, let’s go to the bunkers.’ I said, ‘If martyrdom is to come, it will come here. Leaders don’t die in bunkers. They die on the battlefield. They don’t die sitting in bunkers’,” Zardari said. Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, also admitted the impact of India’s strategic and precision strikes on their military installation during the four-day strikes.

While addressing his year-end press briefing on Saturday, Dar confirmed that India had targeted its Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi’s Chakala, damaging their military installation as well as injuring personnel posted there.

“They (India) send drones towards Pakistan. In 36 hours, at least 80 drones were sent. We were able to intercept 79 drones out of 80, and only one drone damaged a military installation and personnel were also injured in the attack,” Dar said.

The Indian Air Force has said six Pakistani aircraft, including five fighter jets and another large aircraft, were downed during Operation Sindoor. Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said an AEW&C (airborne early warning and control system) and six fighter jets were downed during the air strike by the Indian side.

India launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of 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 degrading terror infrastructure and deterring further attacks.

The action led to a sharp escalation, with Pakistan intensifying cross-border shelling and India responding along the Line of Control (LOC). The situation raised fears of a wider military confrontation between the two countries.

Zardari said he had anticipated the escalation days in advance but claimed he refused to move to a bunker when advised to do so. His comments offered a rare public acknowledgement of the concern within Pakistan’s top leadership 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.

India’s retaliation followed the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which New Delhi blamed on cross-border terrorism, prompting calls for decisive action. The May strikes marked one of the most serious military confrontations between India and Pakistan in recent years before the ceasefire took effect.