New Delhi, Jun 28 (PTI) Underlining the country's "new normal" in dealing with terrorism, Defence Secretary R K Singh on Saturday said the "policy of forbearance that was practised for decades" is over and terrorists will be hit hard, at a time and place of India's choosing.
During an interaction at an event here, Singh also said Pakistan "treats them (terrorists) as their assets" and mourns for them when they are hit -- a reference to the presence of many Pakistani army personnel at a funeral of some of those killed in the strikes on terror infrastructure under Operation Sindoor.
"It confirms and validates our assessment all along that these people are deliberately cultivated for cross-border terrorism in India, as an instrument of state policy," Singh said.
The defence secretary was asked about the sequence of events during the recent four-day military confrontation between India and Pakistan that was eventually halted after the two sides arrived at an understanding on May 10, leading to a cessation of hostilities.
The Pakistani military side came forward on May 9, "asking for a call from the DGMO, which they had earlier refused even to take", Singh said, in response to a query.
"And it was clear at that stage that they were in the process of capitulating essentially. And this was in the morning of May 9. So even before the announcement was made (on May 10), we all knew that this was going to happen. And this is what happened. The DGMO spoke and they essentially asked for a ceasefire," he added.
The defence secretary was speaking at a session hosted at the "CNN News 18 Town Hall: The Defence Edition".
India launched Operation Sindoor early on May 7 in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack and conducted precision strikes on several terror-infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The Pakistani military, in retaliation, targeted Indian military installations and civilian areas, with India conducting counter-offensives against it and damaging several key air bases in the neighbouring country, including the Noor Khan and Rahim Yar Khan bases.
Asked about the claims made by the Pakistani side about military losses suffered by India during the conflict, Singh said, "I am not going into the details of how many assets they lost or we lost. I would say that in terms of the combination of military casualties and military assets, their losses are manifold compared to our losses, manifold, several times more."
"If you add to them, the terrorists, over a hundred killed, who, as I also said are their assets, the number obviously is several times whatever minor losses we suffered," he added.
The precision strikes on nine locations on May 7 "killed, to our assessment, almost 100 terrorists and their followers, whether some of the people had left (the buildings) is a different matter", Singh said.
Besides hitting them in terms of casualty, the intent was to demolish their headquarters, send a message to those terror outfits who have a long lineage in terms of terror activities in India, he added.
The defence secretary said the Pakistani side kept escalating despite "our warning that we were being calibrated".
"The intent on that night was to go a little all-out and make it clear to them that you will suffer much greater consequences if you keep moving up the escalation ladder from your side," he said.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it has been decided that people will "no longer allow them (terrorists) necessarily to choose the time and place", Singh said.
"Yes, they will have their element of surprise always -- in terms of hitting, finding some innocent targets, soft targets. The intent is that thereafter, they should know that we will respond, but they should not know how and the time and place (of the response)," the defence secretary added.
"And the nuclear umbrella is not going to deter us," he emphasised.
Singh said "convention deterrence" can be practised even in the context of two nuclear powers.
"There is always a bit of uncertainty about something unthinkable happening, but I think it has been established that you can practise some level of conventional deterrence even under a nuclear umbrella. And people's bluff can be called," he said.
There will be a "policy of zero tolerance", the hits will be on the headquarters and the leaders, not only on the foot soldiers. This is the "new normal" that the prime minister has made very clear and in the future, therefore, "the element of surprise will not only be with them, it will be with us also", Singh said.
"We will sort of decide the script of what ensues thereafter once they try to hit some soft targets in India," he warned.
"That expectation.... That the policy of forbearance that was practised for decades, the new normal is that the forbearance is over, we will hit them hard, at a time and place of our own choosing. And the level of escalation will be determined by our leadership. And it will definitely not be turning the other cheek," Singh said.
Asked if there could be any further response from Pakistan, he said, "We will have to wait and see."
"But as the cliche goes, it is an army with a State" that has "captured the State apparatus and its resources", the defence secretary said.
Another learning from Operation Sindoor has been that "we need to double down on our indigenous efforts to ensure that we build a large, effective military drone-manufacturing ecosystem. Today, largely it is in civilian space," he said.
"Also, we wish to quickly replenish whatever gaps we have identified in this period," Singh added.