Chennai: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval slammed the foreign media on Friday for their reportage of Operation Sindoor, daring them to produce a single image of any damage to Indian infrastructure due to strikes by Pakistan.
“Foreign press said that Pakistan did that and this. You tell me one photograph, one image, which shows any damage to any Indian (structure), even a glass pane having been broken. They wrote these things. The images only showed 13 air bases in Pakistan before and after 10th May, whether it was in Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan, Chaklala.” NSA Doval said.
Doval was addressing the 62nd convocation of IIT Madras, where he highlighted the ‘bias’ of foreign media when it comes to covering India’s interests.
“I am only telling you what the foreign media put out on the basis of images. We are capable of doing it (damage to Pakistani air bases),” he added.
On the intervening night of May 9 and 10, the Indian armed forces struck Pakistani air bases spanning the length and breadth of the country and in the process also, crippled their Chinese supplied air defence systems.
Around 15 BrahMos missiles were fired at military targets in Pakistan in high-precision strikes, disrupting Pakistan’s ability to launch aircraft and other operations.
Doval went on to highlight how Indian indigenous defence capabilities played a defining role during the conflict, urging the need to develop more indigenous technology.
“We have to develop indigenous technology. Mention of Sindoor was made here. We are really proud of how much of indigenous content there was. We are proud that some of the best systems were there, whether it was BrahMos missiles, whether it was our integrated air control and command system, whether it was our radars. We decided to hit nine terrorist targets across Pakistan, not along the border areas. We hit nowhere else except there. It was precise to the point where we knew who was where. Entire operation took 23 minutes,” Doval said.
The NSA also emphasised that Artificial Intelligence is a “game changer” and India needs to make it a “focal point” in order to lead and develop.
“AI is one of the great game changers. AI will change the world at a rate of every year. It will become unrecognisable from everything we do today, and its application will be diverse, not only required for research and development, but also for machine learning, LLMs, defence, robotics, medicine, finance, and everything. If India is going to lead and develop, make it a focal point. This is the one area that we have to develop,” he said.
