‘India answered the smart power question in 22 minutes’: Indian Army chief recalls Op Sindoor

Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday hailed the country’s military on the execution of Operation Sindoor, saying that it was a testament to the armed forces’ perseverance.

Addressing a seminar titled “Security to Prosperity: Smart Power for Sustained National Growth” at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies in New Delhi, he said Operation Sindoor demonstrated military precision, controlled messaging, diplomatic signalling, and economic determination.

“Twelve months ago, Bharat offered the world a partial answer to the so-called smart power question on the intervening night of 6-7th May 2025. Bharat acted in a precisely defined 22-minute window and delivered military precision,” he said.

He added, “It struck deep, dismantled terror infrastructure, punctured a long-standing strategic assumption, and then stopped deliberately and purposefully. The deliberate halt after 88 hours was smart power in its most complete expression, knowing exactly which instrument to apply at what intensity and precisely when to convert a military movement into a strategic one.”

He said the 21st century began with the belief that growing trade ties, integrated supply chains and digital connectivity would make major conflicts less likely by deepening global interdependence.

However, he argued that those same mechanisms have increasingly been weaponised for strategic pressure, citing the selective access to semiconductors and rising tensions around the Strait of Hormuz as examples of how economic and geopolitical leverage are now intertwined.

“Global defence spending has crossed dollar 2.7 trillion, exceeding the entire UN budget for sustainable development goals. The boundary between security and prosperity is no longer a boundary at all,” General Dwivedi added.

Operation Sindoor successfully targeted terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. This marks New Delhi’s most significant military action within Pakistani territory in over five decades.

The strikes were carried out to avenge the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and to eliminate Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leaders involved in planning and executing terrorist attacks in India.