Singapore City: India decisively asserted its military superiority over Pakistan during this month’s brief but intense conflict, with its aerial strikes penetrating deep into Pakistani territory and delivering pinpoint blows to critical enemy infrastructure such as radar systems, control units, and airbases, a Reuters report citing Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan said on May 31, underlining how New Delhi’s military superiority during “Operation Sindoor” forced Islamabad to tuck its tail.
General Chauhan was speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. In an interview with Reuters, the CDS admitted that the Armed Forces had suffered losses in the initial stages of the operation but then struck with impunity at Pakistan’s bases.
“So what I can say is, on May 7 and the initial stages, there were losses, but the numbers and that’s not important. What was important is why did these losses occur, and what will we do after that? So we rectified the tactics and then went back on seventh, eighth and 10th, and 10th in large numbers, to hit their bases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their defences with impunity, with scattered opposition strikes,” Gen Chauhan was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Earlier, on May 11, Director General Air Operations Air Marshal Bharti, when commenting on Aircraft losses, had said, “I can’t comment about loss of Aircraft as we are in a combat scenario and losses are part of combat”.
Meanwhile, speaking to Reuters, General Chauhan dismissed Pakistan’s claims that India ceased aerial operations after May 7, stating that India’s response became more sustained and powerful.
Indian fighter jets, drones, and missiles struck 11 Pakistani air bases on May 10, including one near the Pakistani capital Islamabad, the Nur Khan airbase, when the residents surrounding were able to witness a sort of ‘new dawn’ in the middle of the night, as PM Narendra Modi put forth during his speech following the cessation of hostilities at Adampur airbase.
Satellite imagery, both from Indian sources and global platforms, later confirmed the precision of these strikes as well as how devastating they have been. “Now that the satellite images for all the strikes that are available, not only through Indian media but from global sources, and you would have seen that most of the strikes were delivered with pinpoint accuracy, some even to a metre, to whatever was our selected mean point of impact, ” Gen Chauhan was quoted as saying by Reuters.
During Operation Sindoor, India demonstrated that large-scale counter-terror operations could be carried out with surgical precision, even against a nuclear-armed adversary, without triggering significant escalation.
“There’s a lot of space before that nuclear threshold is, you know, crossed, a lot of signalling before that. I think nothing like that happened. Over a period of time, as I said in a couple of other meetings that there’s a lot of space for conventional operations, which has been created, and this will be the new norm,” General Chauhan said, according to Reuters.
Despite targeting sites close to sensitive nuclear installations, there was no indication that either country seriously contemplated the use of nuclear weapons. Chauhan emphasised the professionalism and restraint shown by both militaries.
“It’s my personal view again that the most rational people are people in uniform when conflict takes place. That’s because they understand that conflict can swing either way, and they understand the consequences of this kind of conflict. And in every step, which happened during this Operation Sindoor, I found both sides displaying a lot of rationality in their thought as well as actions,” he said.
After India carried out strikes on Terror bases in Pakistan, the Pakistani side responded by attempting to target Defence and civilian installations in India. India then carried out another series of precision attacks, which saw the destruction of several Pakistani air bases. An understanding on the cessation of hostilities was then reached between the two sides on May 10.
Operation Sindoor not only showcased India’s readiness and ability to strike deep and with precision, but also set a new conventional threshold in South Asian conflict dynamics–on India’s terms and at India’s choosing. (With inputs from ANI)
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