Army Chief Gen. Upendra Dwivedi gave more information regarding “Operation Sindoor,” the military operation that started after the horrific Pahalgam terror assault on April 22. The Army chief said at an event at IIT Madras that the plan for the operation was like a game of chess, which showed how unusual it was.
Dwivedi said that the three service chiefs met with Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on April 23, the day after the Pahalgam incident that killed 26 people. The military was given a “free hand” to plan and carry out the operation at that conference. Dwivedi said that the Defense Minister told the troops, “Enough is enough,” and that “something had to be done.”
The Army leader called Operation Sindoor a “grey zone” operation, saying it was not a normal conflict. He said, “We didn’t know what the enemy was going to do next or what we were going to do.” “This is what we call a grey zone. We’re not doing the usual operations, but we’re doing something that is almost like a normal operation.” He also said that the military was making strategic “chess moves” during the operation, sometimes giving “checkmate” and other times moving “in for the kill” even though they were risking their own lives.
General Dwivedi’s statements came just a few hours after Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh also talked about the operation. During the four-day combat, Singh said that the Indian Air Force shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and a big Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) plane with S-400 air defense systems. Air Chief Marshal Singh also said that the air force had “no restrictions” and was “free to plan and carry out the mission.”
In response to the Pahalgam incident, Operation Sindoor, which started on May 7, attacked terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The operation was a big show of India’s military strength and political will.