AFP, New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said India remains “steadfast as ever” in its determination to defeat terrorism and its “enabling ecosystem”, marking one year since a deadly clash with arch-enemy Pakistan.

Relations between nuclear-armed neighbours plummeted last year after an April 22 attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 men, mostly Hindu tourists, leading to their worst conflict in decades.

India blamed Pakistan for backing the attack -- a charge Islamabad denied -- triggering tit-for-tat diplomatic measures and a sharp military escalation.

The conflict escalated after India launched strikes on May 7, 2025 -- on what it described as “terrorist camps” in Pakistan.

That prompted an immediate response from Islamabad, leading to airstrikes, drone swarms and heavy mortar fire between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

“We remain as steadfast as ever in our resolve to defeat terrorism and destroy its enabling ecosystem,” Modi said yesterday, a year on since the launch of “Operation Sindoor”.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist government used Sindoor, the Hindi word for the red powder which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads, as a sign that it was to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack.

More than 70 people were killed on both sides.

Pakistan claims to have shot down five Indian fighter jets. India has not disclosed any losses.

Meanwhile, Pakistan yesterday said it would defend itself strongly against any attack in a statement marking the anniversary of a conflict Islamabad calls “Marka-e-Haq”, or “Battle of Truth”.

The neighbours agreed to end the four-day conflict on May 10, a ceasefire first announced by US President Donald Trump.