Former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “complete freedom of action” before Operation Sindoor and told it to decide the timing of the operation while ensuring there was no scope for failure.Speaking at the Vivekananda Centre in the national capital, Chauhan said the political decision that the perpetrators of the terror attack would not be spared and that India would not tolerate cross-border terrorism was conveyed by Prime Minister Modi in his speech in Patna on April 24. “You are aware about the political decision that the perpetrators of this particular strike will not be spared and we’ll not tolerate cross-border terrorism. This was conveyed by none other than the honourable Prime
Minister in his speech in Patna on the 24th,” Chauhan said. He said decisions on diplomacy, economic power and trade were taken on April 23, while the decision on how military force would be applied was taken on April 29, when the Chiefs of Staff Committee, Defence Minister and National Security Advisor met the Prime Minister. Chauhan said several meetings were held between April 23 and 29 as the military discussed different options with the government. “So it was a kind of an interplay when we went to the government with our options. We had a number of options which we had discussed with the NSA. So on the 29th, when we went there, I think the big decision over there was that we should teach Pakistan a big lesson because India will not tolerate cross-border terrorism and this must end,” he said. He said the Prime Minister made clear that there was no political pressure to launch the operation immediately. “The Prime Minister told us only one thing: that he is not under any kind of political pressure to do it immediately. He said, ‘Do it at your own time, but ensure that there is no reason for failure, either human or because of technical reasons, and we should have evidence of whatever we do.’ And the fourth thing which he told us was complete freedom of action,” Chauhan said. “So for the military, actually, this could be nothing better than this. What they want always is clear political direction, and that was available to us,” he added.
India had launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year as a decisive, targeted response to destroy terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). The anti-terror operation was carried out to dismantle terror bases that were utilised to plan the horrific April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Following effective Indian strikes that dismantled key terror launchpads, the operation was paused on May 10 after a formal request from the Pakistani side.
