Op Sindoor made it clear who stands with India: Ex-principal adviser to MoD

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Operation Sindoor made it clear who stands with India diplomatically, former principal adviser to the Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant General Vinod Khandare (retired) has said.

War is a costly affair and leads to pressure on a country's economy, he further said, stressing that a lot of work needs to be done on civil defence as it will continue to remain a "vulnerability".

The Army veteran was in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city on Sunday for an interaction with public on Operation Sindoor, during an event organised by a local NGO.

India destroyed nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir with precision strikes in May as part of the Operation Sindoor in response to the April 22 Pahalgam massacre in which 26 persons were killed by terrorists.

Asked about takeaways from the Operation Sindoor, Lt Gen Khandare told PTI, "It is clear that diplomatically who is there with you (India) and who is not. Internally it is clear where the problems or faultlines are. If you think comprehensively, the identification of faultlines has come out very clearly."

The "selfish interests" have also become clear, he said.

Besides, we have to work a lot on civil defence because it will continue to remain a vulnerability, he added.

"Today, with the kind of missiles and the reach that you have, everything is approachable. We are ahead in critical technologies and research," he pointed out.

He further said a major part of transformation is that the one who is going to use that technology should be proficient. From the lab to the battlefield, it is a complete chain. "I think we have understood where we have to stand," Lt Gen Khadare said.

He also said there is a major issue in border areas that has to be addressed by state governments.

"Drone attacks impact the civilians. What about their shelters? Border states should be the first to have some regulation that every home has a shelter beneath, like in Israel and Ukraine. I think we have to learn from others also so that we don't repeat mistakes which they ignored," he said.

Asked during the public interaction why Operation Sindoor took a sudden pause when there was a "win-win" situation, Lt Gen Khandare said, "I was with the defence minister then and discussions take place on such things at different levels. War is a costly affair and pressure comes on the economy of a country."  It is clear that we have to be a developed country by 2047, he noted.

"We have hard choices at times, to indulge in war with a nonsensical country like Pakistan or teach them a lesson and get back to our work. We have to avoid the mistake that took place in Russia-Ukraine war," he said.

Punishment can be given again if they (Pakistan) commit the mistake again, he added.

People think in that manner (to continue Op Sindoor) from a patriotic point of view. But pragmatism says it has be thought about how much punishment is to be given and why, Lt Gen Khandare said.

"The aim of our government was to damage or destroy terrorism...we had to teach a lesson to the terrorist organisations," he said.

"We succeeded in that but they (Pakistan) targeted civilian areas which was unacceptable, so we targeted their military establishments. Some people think we would have gone for PoK. But it is a costly, deliberate operation and needs preparations," he added.