‘We can hit harder’: Pakistan relocates 72 terror launchpads inland; BSF says ready if Sindoor 2.0 is ordered

IG Shashank Anand said the BSF is ready to follow any decision by the government if Operation Sindoor is resumed.

More than six dozen terror launchpads have been shifted to 'depth areas' inside Pakistan after Operation Sindoor, senior Border Security Force (BSF) officers said on Saturday, adding that the force is prepared to inflict 'more damage' if the government orders a resumption of cross-border action, PTI reported.

They said around 12 launchpads are now operating from depth areas in and around Sialkot and Zaffarwal, away from the immediate border belt, while about 60 more have been pushed further inside Pakistani territory, according to BSF DIG Vikram Kunwar as cited by PTI.

Kunwar addressed the media along with BSF IG, Jammu Frontier, Shashank Anand, and DIG Kulwant Rai Sharma at a press conference on the force’s 2025 achievements, including its role in Operation Sindoor, India’s cross-border response to the April 22 Pahalgam massacre that left 26 people dead and was traced to Pakistan-based networks, PTI reported.

Why did this happen now?

BSF officers said the shifts took place after Operation Sindoor, in which Indian forces destroyed 'many terror launchpads along the border'. Pakistan then moved these facilities to depth areas to avoid direct targeting from the boundary, as per PTI.

At the same time, the BSF is honouring the halt in military action after four days of clashes from May 7–10 and is currently observing the pause ordered by the government, the officers added.

What BSF says about launchpads and terrorist movement

“After the BSF destroyed many terror launchpads along the border during Operation Sindoor, Pakistan government shifted all such facilities to the depth areas… About 12 launchpads are working from the depth areas of Sialkot and Zaffarwal, which are not exactly on the border. Similarly, 60 launchpads are working in the other depth areas away from the border,” DIG Kunwar told reporters as per PTI.

He said the number of launchpads and the terrorists present in them keeps changing.

“They do not sit there permanently. These launchpads are generally active when terrorists have to be pushed (into India)… They are not kept in more than two or three groups,” Kunwar was quoted as saying by PTI, adding that there are currently no training camps close to the International Border.

According to the officers, intelligence inputs generally refer to 'deployment' at launchpads, indicating that some level of training and pre-infiltration staging continues before groups are moved to other areas, PTI reported.

Kunwar also said that earlier, certain areas used to be marked out for specific outfits, with Jaish-e-Mohammad operating on the 'down side' and Lashkar-e-Taiba on the 'upper side'. “After Operation Sindoor, they have formed a mixed group. Those who want can get training in a mixed group,” he said, as cited by PTI.

Context: From sector control to ‘mixed’ terror grids

That shift from clearly demarcated Lashkar/Jaish zones to mixed groups is a key change from the classic post-Kargil pattern. It suggests Pakistani handlers are now pooling cadres and logistics in fewer, deeper nodes to reduce exposure near the border after Operation Sindoor, while still keeping multiple outfits operational. For Indian forces, this blurs group-specific signatures and complicates attribution in case of future attacks.

BSF on readiness and Pakistan’s response

IG Shashank Anand said the BSF is ready to follow any decision by the government if Operation Sindoor is resumed.

“If we talk about 1965, 1971, the 1999 Kargil War, or Operation Sindoor, the BSF has a good experience of all kinds of wars, be it conventional or hybrid warfare. We are ready. If we get a chance, we are capable of causing more damage than what we did in May. Whatever policy the government decides, the BSF will play its role in it,” he said, according to PTI.

Asked about reports of Pakistani Rangers vacating posts during Operation Sindoor, Anand said that once the situation becomes normal, “it is necessary that everyone returns to their respective positions”.

“It took them a lot of time to recover from the damages inflicted by the BSF. In some locations, they have tried to strengthen their defence. But all of their activities are under our surveillance,” he said, as per PTI.

The IG added that the BSF is planning according to “changing circumstances” and “when we get a chance, we will take proper action”, while stressing that at present “there is no movement (of terrorists on the border) to raise an alarm”, PTI reported.