If the need for Operation Sindoor 2.0 arises, India's military response to Pakistan will be harsher and stronger than what was witnessed last time, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command, Lieutenant General Manoj Kumar Katiyar, said. The intensity of the Indian response will depend on the situation at the particular juncture, the Lieutenant General said.
Pakistan cannot fight India militarily and they tried to initiate a ceasefire not just via direct channels but also through international players, the senior officer told the press on Wednesday. "During Operation Sindoor, we attacked their (Pakistan) terrorist bases... When they retaliated, in response, we destroyed their military bases and airbases. They then demanded a ceasefire, and not just directly from us, but also from other countries, asking for a ceasefire with India," he said in Punjab's Pathankot.
"They cannot fight us... The response will be stronger than what we have done in Operation Sindoor... But we are very sure that we have to respond harsher than we did last time," the Lieutenant General added.
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When asked how strongly India will react in the case of Operation Sindoor 2.0, he said, "The response will be stronger than what we have done in Operation Sindoor... To what level we will go will depend on the situation prevailing on that particular day or time. But we are very sure that we have to respond harsher than we did last time," Manoj Kumar Katiyar said.
India launched Operation Sindoor, a military campaign against terrorist hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in May in retaliation for the Pahalgam massacre.
The attack sparked a brief but intense military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours, with Pakistan launching a drone strike on India. The Indian forces hit back, inflicting heavy damage on several military installations and airbases inside Pakistan.
The Centre d'Histoire et de Prospective Militaires (CHPM), an independent Swiss research centre, had said in a report that the IAF managed to significantly degrade the enemy's air-defence system, and then concluded the conflict by carrying out a series of spectacular strikes against Pakistan’s principal air force stations. "Thus, by achieving clear air superiority, India coerced Islamabad into requesting a ceasefire."