Questions on Operation Sindoor that need answers

Operation Sindoor may have paused with the ceasefire. But the war over it continues. The new arena is the Parliament House, where the issue is slated to be debated next week. Some anticipated issues the Opposition may raise are discussed here.

While it is reasonable to assume Pakistan knew India would respond strongly to the massacre of innocents in Pahalgam, it did not know when, where and how. The first question that remains unsettled is — did we inform Pakistan in advance that we would be attacking their terror bases and which all? A video of our foreign minister saying so was in circulation. But today, everything can be faked. Later, the minister denied informing his Pakistani counterpart ‘ahead’ of the attacks. We must believe the minister. But the alacrity with which Pakistan reacted to our surprise attacks during night of May 6-7 is praiseworthy. It speaks very highly of its ‘battle-readiness’ and we need to factor it into the calculus of any future confrontation.

The second question is our agreeing to order a pause on the Pakistan DGMO’s request made on May 10. Normally, the winning side would like to cash in on its gains and not accept a ceasefire till it feels it has achieved its aim. The related question likely to be raised is — did the US have any hand in pressuring India to sheath its swords? President Trump has been saying so ad nauseam. But since Prime Minister Modi has repeatedly asserted that there was no US hand in the matter, the Opposition would press for clarity.

The third question is about the losses we suffered. In every war, we have declared the count of soldiers killed or wounded. It is not clear why there is so much secrecy this time. Apprehension that it would affect the forces’ morale is misplaced. They already know what we have lost. The Pakistani claim that it downed six of our aircraft, including three Rafale fighter jets, is prima facie outrageous. The best way to counter this propaganda is through facts. Giving out details in tidbits through generals and air marshals is not convincing the public. The government must come clean.

Stoppage of flow of river waters to Pakistan is an effective way to pressure it and push it towards keeping peace. Some of us have been advocating this for long. One wonders why this was not done earlier. Pakistan is mainly an agrarian state. Controlling water flow is an effective weapon in India’s arsenal to not only harm Pakistan economically but also cause public unrest which may ultimately contribute towards democracy taking roots there. The government has rightly put the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance. One hopes that decision is stuck to despite apprehension of similar threat from China.

We must also analyse the gains of Operation Sindoor. Causing damage to air defence systems is only the means to achieving our aim of deterring Pakistan from terror attacks. Field Marshal Asim Munir is thumping his chest over Pakistan’s ‘victory’ in countering Op Sindoor.

We must remember that India is alone in this fight. It was disappointing, though not surprising, that while all countries to which we sent post-Sindoor delegations condemned the Pahalgam attack, hardly any country called out Pakistan by name.

Lt Gen Raj Kadyan (Retd) is former Deputy Chief of Army Staff.

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