Former Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, who was also the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, tells Harpreet Bajwa that the nuclear bluff of Pakistan has been called out and that any nuclear escalation will be end of Pakistan. Excerpts:
How do you assess Operation Sindoor’s execution?
If you look back from 2016 and 2019, the horrific Pahalgam incident of selectively killed Hindu men in front of their family members made it a religious issue. The government of the day had to take action. In my opinion it was the right action. It was executed well by the three services.
I am given to understand it was a tri-services operation. The strategic messaging and signalling has changed. Pakistan’s escalation following the strikes on their terrorist infrastructure was thwarted. And the ensuing counter-strikes on Pakistan air bases and other infrastructure, in my opinion, was an excellent military operation.
You say messaging to Pakistan has changed. How?
How long? For 36 years, Pakistan has been using infiltration and terrorism under the garb of nuclear umbrella and they have been saying they are immune to any counter-action. Over the years we have tried joint investigations of incidents, but there has been no way ahead and no cooperation from Pakistan. I am saying strategic messaging has changed because the Prime Minister’s address to the nation and his speech at the Adampur air force station clearly laid out new red lines and that it is now just a pause and in case there is any other terrorist incident there will be consequences for Pakistan.
Can you elucidate on the new red lines that have been drawn?
The Prime Minister has said that any new incident of terrorism will be treated as a state of war. Then, he said that no nuclear blackmail is going to be tolerated. I think we have freedom of action and the messaging is very clear. We also displayed comprehensive military capability of our air defense network.
One is given to understand the navy also played a role in Operation Sindoor. What kind of planning was worked out?
I do not have inside information but what I can say is operational units of the navy were deployed in the north Arabian Sea and as the Director General of Naval Operations stated that there was total maritime domain awareness. The Pakistan navy put a stop to all maritime activities along their coastline. Their deployments were within their coastal waters. So, comparing force on force, the asymmetry between the Indian Navy and Pakistan Navy is the widest. It sends out a message.
The way innocent tourists were selectively massacred in Pahalgam, it appears that there was complete intelligence failure. Your comments?
The question we need to ask is whether there was actionable intelligence that so and so incident is going to happen at this particular site at Pahalgam or there was a more broad-based information that a terrorist incident is going to happen in J&K. Definitely, some void in intelligence and some failures. People must be held accountable. We need to make distinction between actionable and broad-based intelligence.
Pakistan reportedly threatened to use nuclear weapons. How can India counter this threat?
They always used this threat of nuclear escalation and Operation Sindoor called out this bluff because we targetted terrorist infrastructure in the heartland of Pakistan, in Punjab, and in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir. So, they also know, I am quite sure, if there is any nuclear escalation that will be the end of Pakistan.
It was a joint and concerted operation by the Army, Air Force and Navy. How do you analyse it?
The armed forces have always been integrated--1971 is the classic case of joint operations where India won its finest victory over Pakistan with the liberation of Bangladesh. This is not something new and this action in Operation Sindoor clearly brings out the joint planning, deployment, execution and control of the escalation matrix. It is going to get more effective and better in the years to come.
