Why India is securing its dams, refineries as Pakistan prepares to retaliate

medium nocaption120988364With a retaliation by Pakistan being considered likely in the wake of Operation Sindoor, India has shored up its defences across the land, air and sea domains. The Centre has also told states and Union Territories bordering Pakistan and Nepal to be on high alert and bolster security at all vulnerable points, particularly vital installations such as dams and oil refineries.India has partially shut the Baglihar and Salal dams on the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir, restricting water flow to Pakistan as part of its strategic response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The move came days after India suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan.On May 8, PTI reported that some gates of Baglihar dam have been opened following heavy rainfall in the region. VIDEO | Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir: Multiple gates of Baglihar dam on #Chenab river opened after heavy rainfall in the region. #baglihardam

(Full video available on PTI Videos - http://t.co/n147TvrpG7 ) pic.twitter.com/kCokodVe1I

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 8, 2025 At a security review held via video-conferencing with lieutenant governors and chief ministers of border states/UTs like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and West Bengal and a representative of Sikkim government, Union home minister Amit Shah on May 7 called for seamless coordination among the local administration, armed forces and the central paramilitary forces.Shah's exhortation followed an assessment by the security establishment that Pakistan, hamstrung by India's decision to focus the precision strikes exclusively on terror camps, could target crucial installations. “We don't run terror camps... our installations such as dams, refineries, power plants, particularly those on the western border, could be targeted,” a source said.Many of these installations are protected by the Central Industrial Security Force, which has already reviewed and upgraded their security plan. Shah asked the LGs/ chief ministers to keep the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), civil defence, Home Guards, National Cadet Corps among others on standby to deal with any situation.120988279The home minister also cautioned states and UTs to make sure there was no fear-mongering among the public and that rumours were kept in check by timely dissemination of information and spreading awareness.On May 7, as part of the nationwide Operation Abhyaas, close to 300 'civil defence districts' across the country with sensitive installations like nuclear plants, military bases, refineries and hydroelectric dams were covered by the mock drills on air-raid warning sirens, civilian training for a "hostile attack" and cleaning of bunkers and trenches.Multi-layered air defence fully activatedAdditionally, India’s multi-layered air defence network is now fully activated, several frontline warships are deployed in the Arabian Sea, and infantry units along the frontier are fully prepared to deal with any contingency.Amid combat air patrols being flown by Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets, even the tri-Service Strategic Forces Command, which handles the country’s nuclear arsenal, has been put on a high alert as a measure of abundant precaution.“India has demonstrated considerable restraint in its response. However, it must be said that Indian armed forces are fully prepared to respond to Pakistani misadventures, if any, that will escalate the situation,” warned Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, a helicopter pilot, at the briefing by foreign secretary Vikram Misri on May 7.The feeling in military-diplomatic circles in Delhi, however, is that Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir, who just a few days ago warned that any Indian “military misadventure” would be met with a “swift and notched-up response”, has no option but to militarily respond to rally everyone around him in his beleaguered country. “There will be great pressure on him to authorise some kind of a response,” a senior officer said.medium nocaption120988130‘Lessons learnt from Pak’s post-Balakot op’Pakistan had managed to surprise India with its ‘Operation Swift Retort’ a day after the IAF conducted the Balakot pre-dawn air strikes on Feb 26, 2019, in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed earlier that month.“Lessons have been learnt. It will not be so easy this time. The armed forces have been preparing for the last 15 days and will not let their guard down,” another officer said, while acknowledging that a large country like India simply cannot make its airspace totally impregnable.The armed forces, on their part, have inducted several new weapon systems since Balakot in 2019. The Russian-origin S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, which can detect and destroy hostile strategic bombers, fighters, missiles and drones at a range of 380km, for instance, are now part of the IAF’s Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS).At the other end of the spectrum, there are the older Igla-1M air defence systems and the newer shoulder-fired Igla-S missiles with an interception range of up to 6km.In between, there are the Israeli-origin Barak-8 medium range surface-to-air missile systems (70-km range), the indigenous Akash air defence missile systems (25km) and the Israeli low-level Spyder quick-reaction antiaircraft missiles (15-km).Many of these systems are plugged into the fully-automated IACCS network that combines a wide array of sensors and weapons. IACCS has been progressively expanded over the years to integrate the wide array of military radars with civilian radars. Apart from ground-based radars, the existing Netra and Phalcon airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft are also part of this network.TOI+ complete coverage of Operation Sindoor here