New Delhi: At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping displayed remarkable bonhomie at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan warned that India’s border dispute with China remains the country’s biggest challenge.
Addressing a gathering in Gorakhpur, CDS Chauhan pointed out that Pakistan’s proxy war against India was another major issue.
“Challenges before countries aren’t momentary, they exist in different forms. I think the boundary dispute with China is India’s biggest challenge and will continue to remain so. The second major challenge is Pakistan’s proxy war against India, with a strategy of ‘bleed India by a thousand cuts’,” CDS Chauhan said.
“Another challenge is that the domains of war have changed-it now includes cyber and space. Both of our opponents are nuclear powers, and it will always remain a challenge to decide what kind of operations we want to undertake against them,” General Chauhan added.
He explained that Operation Sindoor was a multi-domain operation, which included cyber warfare and coordination among military wings.
“We had full operational freedom, including planning and selection of targets, during Operation Sindoor. The aim was not to avenge the terrorist attack, but to draw a red line of our patience,” he said.
In the early hours of May 7, India’s Armed forces carried out a precise and successful attack on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and PoK, destroying infrastructure and eliminating at least 100 terrorists.
Pakistan tried to retaliate with missile and drone attacks on India’s border cities, only to be repelled by our robust air defence system. India responded by targeting several Pakistani airbases. After four days of military hostility, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire on May 10.