Parwinder Sandhu
New Delhi, Nov 17 (UNI) Issuing a blunt warning to Islamabad, Army Chief General Upender Dwivedi on Monday asserted that India will decisively retaliate against anyone fomenting terrorism.
Without directly naming Pakistan, he said that even in the case of a bairang chitti (anonymous letter), it is enough for the Army to know “whom to respond to.”
Emphasising that India has consistently prioritised development and cooperation, the Army Chief said state-backed terrorism leaves New Delhi with no choice but to act, “We are talking about progress. We are talking about moving forward together. So, whatever obstacle is in our way, we will have to do something about it. As far as the question of the new normal is concerned, we have said that water and blood cannot flow together. Talks and terrorism cannot work together.”
Urging Pakistan to opt for peace, he added, “So, we are just saying that you should adopt the process of peace. We will also support it. Until it is not done, the terrorists or their leaders are equal targets for us.”
General Dwivedi stressed that India will not succumb to coercion of any kind, the COAS said that India is so rich that it is not afraid of any blackmail.
Dubbing Op Sindoor as a mere trailer, the Army chief said, “The movie did not even start. Only the trailer was shown. The trailer ended in 88 hours. So, how will the future be? We are fully prepared for it. And if someone gives us such an opportunity in Pakistan, then we would like to give him a full education on how a responsible nation should behave with its neighbors.”
Reflecting on lessons from Operation Sindoor, the Army Chief highlighted three key priorities: seamless coordination among the services, maintaining adequate supplies for sustained conflict, and enabling quick decision-making at every command level.
“Whenever some operation happens, we learn from it, this time, too, we learned things. One of the things we learned was that we have very less time to make any decision, and take a decision at every level on time,” he said, adding that there was a need for integration among the forces. Today’s battles are multi-domain. Just the army cannot fight a battle; everyone has to fight together,” he said.
“We also cannot say how long a battle will last, even today. This time we fought for 88 hours; next time it could be four months too or even four years. Looking at that, do we have enough supplies and weapons to fight that? If we do not have, then we need to prepare for that,” he added.
On India’s border situation with China, the Army Chief said the past year has seen significant progress. “There has been a lot of progress in the past year. From October 2024 to today, there has been a lot of improvement in our relations. It has improved because we have had a lot of talks with our political leaders. And both of them were convinced that the more normalcy we bring there, the better for both our countries,” he said.
He also highlighted the transformation in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370. With political clarity improving after 2019, he said institutions such as IITs, IIMs and colleges are expanding rapidly, and the number of schools has risen by 21 per cent.
General Dwivedi added that both terrorism and local recruitment into militant ranks have sharply declined. “Positive changes are taking place in Jammu and Kashmir. As far as terrorism is concerned, it has also fallen a lot. This time around, 31 militants have been killed, terrorists have been killed, of which around 71 percent are Pakistani terrorists. Recruitment, this time, only one happened, but that too was caught. Stone pelting incidents have stopped entirely in the region. The attraction towards India is growing and the fascination for Pakistan is fading,” he added.
