Army chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi has issued a strict and unprecedented warning to Pakistan. It has to be forthwith stop supporting terrorism or India's notorious western neighbour may lose out geographical presence on the map.
(At a press conference in Delhi; Air Chief Marshal A P Singh said that Pakistan lost as many as 12 to 13 aircraft, including fighter jets such as US-made F-16s and Chinese-origin JF-17s, to the Indian Air Force’s precision strikes on ground and in the air during the four-day Operation Sindoor.)
Speaking at an Army post in Rajasthan's Anupgarh, Gen Dwivedi said the Indian forces won't show any restraint next time.
Does it imply a second version of 'Operation Sindoor' need not be far away ?
"This time we will not maintain the restraint that we had in Operation Sindoor 1.0. This time we will do something that will make Pakistan think whether it wants to retain its place in geography or history....If Pakistan wants to retain its place in geography, then it must stop state-sponsored terrorism," he said.
This level of cautioning from the serving army chief and that too from a forward post in the western state of Rajasthan - and not far from Pakistan - shows things are being taken at the next level.
The Modi Govt has said repeatedly that Operation Sindoor has remained inconclusive.
Thus, the remarks from Gen Dwivedi is a case of "telling the truth" about what makes India great as a country; and what also makes it different.
The timing coincides with senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, a former Home Minister, stating that in 2008 the Manmohan Singh government did not act against Pakistan at the instance of US and the pressure mounted from Washington.
Notably, on the same day Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal A P Singh said that six aircraft - five fighters and a 'big bird', likely an AEW&C (airborne early warning and control) plane of Pakistan - were destroyed in mid-air strikes by India during Operation Sindoor in May.
The Air Force chief said the Indian military has evidence of at least one long-range strike on an AEW&C aircraft and four to five strikes on fighter jets during Operation Sindoor.
Precision strikes by Indian missiles also disabled radar systems, Command & Control centres, and runways, hangars and other military infrastructure, he said.
A C-130-class plane - i.e., an American-made, military transport aircraft dubbed 'Hercules' - may have also been hit, he said.
"As far as Pakistan's losses are concerned... we struck a large number of their airfields and a large number of installations. Because of these strikes, radars at four places, Command & Control centres at two places, and runways at two places were damaged. Then, three of their hangers, in three different air bases, were damaged..." he said at a press conference in Delhi.
"... one SAM (i.e., surface-to-air missile) system was destroyed. We have evidence of one long-range strike, which I talked about earlier, at more than 300 km... an AEW&C or other significant aircraft, and five fighters, (possibly) F-16 or JF-17... this is what our system tells us," he said.
In August the Air Force - in its first big statement since the Op Sindoor ceasefire - confirmed the extensive damage to Pakistani military assets. Besides the six planes hit mid-air, Indian missile strikes also hit Pak Air Force bases, specifically in Jacobabad and Bholari, the Air Force said.
An unspecified number of F-16s and at least one other AEW&C aircraft - all grounded because of operational reasons - were destroyed in those strikes, the Air Force had said.
He maintained that some of the remarks of Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif were like fairy tales or "Manohor kahaniya".
The chief of the air staff also said the IAF had the capability to accurately target new terror hubs coming up in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) where groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) have begun relocating their bases after Indian forces bombed nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and killed at least 100 terrorists in the early hours of May 7 when Operation Sindoor was launched.
The IAF, he said, struck a large number of Pakistani airfields and installations.
“What we have gathered from intelligence reports is that on ground, because of these strikes, radars were destroyed in at least four places, command and control centres at two places, and runways damaged at two places.
“As far as the air defence part is concerned, we have clear evidence of one long-range strike, a 300-km one, which happened to be either on an AEW&C aircraft or a signal intelligence aircraft…along with that (also hit were) five high-tech fighters between the F-16 and JF-17 class.
This is what our system tells us.”
Three of their hangars in three different stations have been damaged. In that hangar, as well as on tarmac, we have signs of (hits on) one C-130 class of aircraft, one AEW&C (airborne early warning and control) class of aircraft...and at least four to five fighter aircraft, most likely F-16s, because that place happened to be where F-16s would have been under maintenance at that time,”
-- Singh said, adding one surface-to-air missile system was also destroyed on ground.
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