Operation Sindoor: It would have been Catastrophic for Pak if War Continued: DGMO

NEW DELHI, Oct 14: Speaking for the first time on “Operation Sindoor,” the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai on Tuesday said the consequences would have been catastrophic for Pakistan if the neighbouring country had not relented then and called for ceasefire after four days of conflict in May.

The Indian Navy had set sails into the Arabian Sea and was ready for action when Pakistan reached out and called for a cessation of hostilities that had alarmed the world, Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai on Tuesday.

India carried out precision strikes, called Operation Sindoor, on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in May this year. This was in response to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives.

“The Indian Navy was also very much in action, ladies and gentlemen. And this is possibly a fact that is not very well known-that the Navy had sailed into the Arabian Sea, and when the DGMO spoke, it was very well poised,” said Lt Gen  Ghai, who was speaking on Operation Sindoor at the United Nations Troop Contributing Countries’ (UNTCC) Chiefs’ Conclave.

The officer said Pakistan not relented, the consequences for the neighbouring country could have been dire. “Had the enemy decided to take it any further, it could have been catastrophic for them, and not only from the sea but from other dimensions as well,” the military officer added.

“Between April 22 and the night of May 6-7, the actions were evolving and unfolding. We were prioritising our targets. We carried out certain precautionary deployments on our borders to make sure that the enemy was deterred. There were numerous inter-service government departments and agencies that were coordinating,” he said.

The final selection of targets, the officer noted, was carried out from a large pool of targets that the Army scrutinised. “While all this was happening, there was a very harmonised and proactive information warfare campaign that was also unfolding,” he said.

The officer further underscored that there has been a “doctrinal shift in our strategy against terror.” “Our Prime Minister has spoken about it. These are the three things he said: Terror attacks are an act of war, and there will be decisive retaliation; we will not succumb to nuclear blackmail; and there is no distinction between terrorists and sponsors of terrorism,” he said.

In July, Home Minister Amit Shah had informed parliament that three terrorists who were involved in the killing of civilians in Pahalgam were eliminated by the security forces during Operation Mahadev.

“The perpetrators of the attack at Pahalgam, the Indian Army will chase them to the depths of hell-and we did. It took us 96 days, but we did not let them rest. When these three were found and eliminated, it seemed as if they were exhausted from running and were very malnourished… The Home Minister has spoken about this in the Indian Parliament. They were eliminated, and justice was served,” Lt Gen Ghai said.

(Manas Dasgupta)