Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Upendra Dwivedi has offered new insights into Operation Sindoor, describing it as a high-stakes “game of chess” fought in a “grey zone” of warfare. Speaking at IIT Madras, he mocked Pakistan’s attempts to portray itself as the victor in the conflict through what he called a “narrative management system.”
Dwivedi explained that Operation Sindoor was a “grey zone” mission, meaning it was a carefully calibrated military response, short of a full-scale conventional war. He likened the operation to a game of chess where both sides were making unpredictable moves, posing significant operational challenges for India’s forces. “Somewhere we were giving them the checkmate and somewhere we were going in for the kill at the risk of losing our own,” he said.
He specifically called out Pakistan’s recent decision to elevate its Army chief, Asim Munir, to the rank of five-star general and field marshal as a tool for propaganda. “If you ask a Pakistani whether you lost or won, he’d say, ‘Army chief has become Field Marshal. We must have won only, that’s why he has a become a Field Marshal’,” Dwivedi remarked, highlighting how Pakistan’s narrative is designed to influence its domestic population.
The Army chief credited the success of the anti-terror operation, which was launched on May 7 in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, to the “political resolve and strategic clarity” of the government. He praised the decision to grant the armed forces a “free hand” to plan and execute the mission, stating that this level of confidence from the political leadership was unprecedented.
According to analysts, Operation Sindoor, which involved precision strikes against terrorist infrastructure and camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), demonstrated India’s capacity for coordinated military action and successfully restored deterrence against cross-border terrorism.
