'India paused Op Sindoor after achieving goals, escalation dominance'

Lt Gen Deependra Singh Hooda (Retd.), key to the 2016 surgical strike, explains how Operation Sindoor changed warfare in South Asia, why India paused, and what became of Pakistan's nuclear blackmail

In response to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, India launched Operation Sindoor with precision strikes on terror infrastructure inside Pakistan on May 7. Pakistan then targeted civilian and military sites in India over more than three days, drawing retaliatory strikes on 13 Pakistani military installations. On May 10 afternoon, Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations called his Indian counterpart, after which both sides agreed to stop all military action from 5:00 PM IST. With Operation Sindoor only suspended, Lieutenant General Deependra Singh Hooda (Retd.), the former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Army’s Northern Command who held the position