India's retaliation after Pahalgam instilled fear in Pakistan's leadership; President Zardari advised to take shelter in bunker

Islamabad: India's swift and precise retaliation against Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack not just rattled the country militarily but also instilled fear among its top leadership, with its President admitting he was advised to take shelter in a bunker during the May escalation.

Speaking during an event on Saturday, PakistPresident Asif Ali Zardari revealed that during New Delhi's retaliatory strikes in May, his Military Secretary urgently advised him to move to a bunker for safety, highlighting the intense fear gripping Pakistan's top leadership amid the Indian operation.

The escalation in May is referred to as India's Operation Sindoor, which came in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 civilians.


India's armed forces carried out strategic precision strikes on Pakistani military installations in May, following operations that targeted nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

Despite a warning from Zardari's Military Secretary, the Pakistani President offered only rhetoric, stating that he had refused to enter the bunker.

"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.

The Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7 as a retaliatory response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.

Following India's operation, the conflict between India and Pakistan deepened, which resulted in increased cross-border shelling from Pakistan and retaliatory action from the Indian Armed Forces.

A surprising sequence of events unfolded as Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) proposed a ceasefire to India's DGMO, which was accepted.

Pakistan's DGMO called India's DGMO to propose a ceasefire, which India accepted.

The contact from the Pakistani side was also confirmed by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who noted that the two sides agreed to halt all military operations - on land, at sea, and in the air.