Operation Sindoor revealed new challenges and harsher realities including the collusion between Pakistan and China, Vice Admiral K Swaminathan said. Islamabad went shopping after the four-day conflict to ensure its armed forces remain armed to the teeth despite the financial woes faced by its citizens, and India cannot take it lightly, he said.
Operation Sindoor, which saw Indian armed forces target terror hubs in Pakistan and PoK, before an escalation resulted in the destruction of several of Pakistan’s air bases and installations, has been a significant inflection point and has established a new normal in New Delhi's relationship with Islamabad, the Navy officer said.
"Pakistan, of course, after the end of the operation, has been on an exercise to arm itself like never before. So that again should be a matter of concern for all of us in the subcontinent... The Pakistani Army is shopping all around the world for arms and ammunition with very scant regard to what else is happening in that country," the Vice Admiral was quoted as saying by PTI. He was speaking at a security conference organised here by the Bramha Research Foundation.
Elaborating on the Sino-Pak nexus, the Vice Admiral said, “We somehow thought that it might be covert, but somewhat over and a little bit. But it was undeniably overt in very clear broad daylight."
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The senior officer, who heads the crucial Western Naval Command headquartered in Mumbai, added that Operation Sindoor demonstrated how the Indian armed forces synergised and carried out very well-synchronised, well-coordinated, well-planned and well-executed strikes on chosen targets.
The success of these strikes demonstrated the collapse of regional assumptions that Pakistan's nuclear shield, besides covert and overt support from sponsors and financial backers, will deter India from carrying out conventional operations, he asserted.
The four-day operation demonstrated the multi-domain capability of the Indian armed forces, he told the conference.
Participating in a panel discussion at the event, Air Marshal Rakesh Sinha, Deputy Chief at the Integrated Defence Staff (Operations), said through Operation Sindoor, India displayed total synergy of all three services—Army, Navy and IAF.
