A candid decoding of Operation Sindoor

 It is a moment of self-awakening for the Indian nation. The Indian army is sifting fact from fiction and letting the country know what all happened during the 87-hour long Indo-Pakistan conflict, from May 7 to 10 under Operation Sindoor.

Apart from counting its successes, the Indian army is also detailing the challenges and the shortcomings that it faced during the conflict, which mercifully concluded in four days, for it could have gone in for 14 to 1400 days. The conflicts of this nature have no fixed time line. Russian-Ukraine conflict that started in February 2022 is continuing till date. There is no end in sight of Israel -Palestine conflict either. The Iran-Iraq conflict lasted for a decade.

The Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi reflected upon this while addressing IIT Madras on Saturday. His 28 minute lecture-cum question-answer session at the prestigious institute made audience aware about the situation that arose after the Pahalgam massacre and till the time of the launch of Operation Sindoor, and later pressing the pause button, which is now under discussion beyond borders of the country.

It is a common practice that after such operations, the military reflects mostly on its successes and there is a tendency to underplay the shortcomings. As a soldier, Gen. Dwivedi did not place shortcomings in a negative fashion but wrapped them as challenges. And as the military commander who before becoming chief had also served as the Northern Command chief, his lecture brought in the two and a half-front war situation in a realistic perspective.

This kind of diagnosis of the military conflicts is very rare. The common man cannot view the complete picture, despite having all the access to the social media and somewhat live coverage of the war. It is particularly important for the people of Jammu and Kashmir who have been participant, witnesses and victim of every war that Pakistan-India fought since 1947, to know what all happened ?

Gen. Dwivedi’s lecture had serious questions and answers about the operation, which the residents of this region could benefit from. It laid out the whole map and time line of the operation, though he did take jibe at Pakistan’s victory claim in Swiftian satiric style; “Ask a Pakistani who won, they would say since our army chief became Field Marshal, we must have won.”

Many media outlets made this as the headline, just because it mocked Pakistan’s hollow victory claims without knowing and understanding the deep message it conveyed. Pakistan made such claims both in optics and narrative with the promotion of Gen. Asim Munir to the rank of Field Marshal with twin goals in its mind. This “victory” claim was a deliberate, not just in terms of how it believed that its armed forces had performed but to justify the massacre of Pahalgam.

Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian armed forces to avenge the mass-killings in Pahalgam on April 22. That was the sole logic behind it. As the army chief put it, the Operation was conceived and launched to hit and destroy the “nursery and masters” of terrorism in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Pakistan knew the backdrop, and when it started the narrative of “victory”, it didn’t mean that the Operation hadn’t inflicted wounds on it, but to say that the cause for which it was launched was not justified. That’s where the real meaning of the jibe lay. It was being made clear to Pakistan that it had lost everything – the narrative of false flag operation in Pahalgam, and the actual battle in air and surface.

Gen. Dwivedi also revealed that five out of the nine terror infrastructural assets in PoK were identified at a meeting in Northern Command. This reference was made with a view to clear that the revenge for the attack in Pahalgam was planned in J&K too. Northern Command is headquartered in Udhampur.

The complex technical details of the operation and Pakistan’s counter action, largely anticipated at the planning stage itself, were made simple for the countrymen. It is also part of a military exercise to keep the nation informed as to what was achieved, what more could have been achieved had there been sufficient equipment. The requirements fell short. That holds lesson for the future. Of course, the army chief could not have revealed everything, but many of the details were placed in the public domain to let the people know what is the lesson for future. The nation knew why Operation Sindoor was undertaken, but what happened during the military action and what more is needed is also important for the countrymen to know.

Jammu and Kashmir was at the center of the operation. It ended successfully bringing a great relief to the people, especially in Jammu and Kashmir. They don’t want war to be at their borders all the time, nor do they want their internal peace to remain disturbed on physical and psychological planes. It has been a playground of gamesmanship of various actors – state and non-state, where psychological games disturb the ground and physical activities play on the psyche of the people. It is a complex situation.

Gen. Dwivedi counted the war against terrorism in J&K as half of the two-and a half front war. This war also needs to be decoded. The army has been involved in this war for over 36 years. The revenge of Uri, Pulwama and Pahalgam has been taken, but the war against terrorism is continuing. This is the right time that a security audit is done by bringing the people on board, and this audit should include the goodwill missions.

The army chief has taken a bold initiative to win confidence of the people on Operation Sindoor. It might have been because of Pahalgam, but the real issue is how this stage was reached and what more needs to be done to neutralize future threats. Kinetic operations are just one part of the counter-terrorism strategies.