The Indian Army on Monday claimed the Golden Temple was the target of Pakistani missiles and drones during an ardent military faceoff that lasted for over four days during Operation Sindoor. Lieutenant General Sumer Ivan D’Cunha said all attacks targeted at the holy Sikh shrine were thwarted by India's mighty air defence systems.

Lt General D’Cunha said the management board of the Golden Temple allowed the deployment of air defence guns within the premises of the shrine to foil drone and missile attacks by Pakistani armed forces.

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In a podcast with ANI, Lt General D’Cunha said Harmandir Sahib’s lights were switched off for the first time in years during the night to detect the drones and missiles in a better way. He said this helped the Indian armed forces combat the projectile attacks from the neighbouring country.

“It was very nice that the Head Granthi of the Golden Temple allowed us to deploy our guns. It is possibly for the first time in many years that they switched off the Golden Temple lights so that we could see the drone coming," he said.

The claim was, however, refuted by the Golden Temple chief priest, who asserted that no such discussions took place with either the Army officials or government representatives. He said he was abroad when the Operation Sindoor was launched and returned only after the hostilities stopped.   

Lt General D’Cunha said drones between 800-1000 were directed towards India across the whole western border in four days, the majority of which were destroyed. He said the focus of the security forces was to detect and destroy UCAV drones, which were directed towards civilian areas to harm the people.

“I would say anything between maybe 800 to 1000 across the whole western border in four days. A large number of them were destroyed. One thing for sure is that all the UCAV drones which actually carried a payload, although their intent was to harm our civilian population and they were directed towards population centres, we ensured that they did not cause any damage, and I think the proof of the pudding is actually in what we actually saw, that there were no civilian casualties,” he added.

In a massive reaction after the Pahalgam attack, as many as nine terror camps were destroyed in Pakistan and PoK by the Indian armed forces in 26 precise strikes during Operation Sindoor.

These locations were key command centres of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), responsible for major attacks like Pulwama (2019) and Mumbai (2008). More than 100 terrorists were killed in the attack.

In retaliation, Pakistan attempted strikes on Indian military bases over the next three days—May 8, 9, and 10. Reacting to this, India launched ardent missile and drone attacks, targeting key military establishments of Pakistan.

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After four days of intense cross-border drone and missile exchanges, both countries agreed to de-escalate and end hostilities on May 10.