Operation Sindoor: What's behind the name of India's attack on Pakistan?

India’s military strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Wednesday, which killed at least 26 people, including a three-year-old child, were launched under the name Operation Sindoor, a term loaded with cultural symbolism and national messaging.

According to Indian government sources quoted in local media, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally chose the codename, drawing on the Hindu tradition of sindoor - the red powder traditionally worn by married women - to symbolise the aftermath of the 22 April attack in Pahalgam earlier this year, in which 26 Hindu men, including several newlyweds, were reportedly singled out and killed by militants.

Shortly after the latest cross-border strikes, the Indian army posted an image online stylising the operation’s name, replacing the "O" in Sindoor with a bowl of vermilion. The caption read: "Justice is served. Jai Hind."

Indian media outlets aligned with the government framed the name as a response to the "barbarity" of the Pahalgam killings, in which men were allegedly executed at point-blank range in front of their wives.

The widely shared image of Himanshi Narwal, a woman who was married for just six days before her husband, Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, was killed, became emblematic of the tragedy.

She later appeared publicly, no longer wearing sindoor, in a moment that many say the government turned into a symbol of national grief and resolve.

Appropriating personal loss

But the use of sindoor as a military codename has sparked discomfort and criticism, with many accusing the Indian state of appropriating personal loss and religious symbolism to justify military escalation.

While officials presented the strikes as precise, coordinated efforts targeting "terror infrastructure" - hitting nine locations with air, naval, and ground forces - Pakistan’s military claimed mosques and civilian areas were struck.

Islamabad called the assault "an act of war", saying five Indian jets were downed and soldiers taken prisoner. India says Pakistani fire also killed at least 12 in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Naming military operations after religious or cultural icons is not new. India has used terms like Operation Vijay ("Victory") and Operation Devi Shakti (named after the Hindu goddess Shakti).

Pakistan has drawn on Islamic references, such as Zarb-e-Azb, named after the Prophet Muhammad’s sword, and Azm-e-Istehkam, meaning "resolve and strength".

But Operation Sindoor stands out for its emotional and symbolic charge. It does not just evoke a military campaign - it deliberately invokes the image of widowhood, of women bereaved by communal violence, and of a nation’s anger distilled into a campaign of retribution.