New Delhi: Information about the India-Pakistan ceasefire during Operation Sindoor reached the United States before India could publicly announce the understanding, former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan (Retd) has revealed.
He was “really not sure” how it was leaked, Gen Chauhan said while speaking at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi on Tuesday. He was addressing claims by US president Donald Trump that he had mediated the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan.
The ceasefire in the military domain was decided directly between the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countrie, the former CDS maintained.
“How was this particular information leaked out to the Americans that they tweeted at before we could announce this? Again, I’m really not sure, but it didn’t leak out from us,” Chauhan said, as reported by News18.
Describing the sequence of events leading to the ceasefire, he said the communication was directly between the Indian and Pakistani DGMOs and that both sides decided the timing of their conversation.
The understanding was reached through the military channel, he categorically said.
“So the ceasefire was decided between two DGMOs. And that’s it. I don’t see the role of anyone else,” Chauhan said.
There had been an understanding at the DGMO level that such conversations would be kept confidential, he said.
“So there had been some understanding between us at the DGMO level, that this is any kind of conversation which had helped. We maintain due secrecy on this,” the retired general saud.
The information may have originated from the Pakistani side, he suggested, while making clear that he could not say with certainty how it reached the United States before India made its own announcement.
“So I think that it somehow got leaked out from the other side. That’s what I feel,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that US pressure, including the threat of tariffs, helped bring India and Pakistan’s military confrontation to an end. Both countries were “very angry” after the US threatened high trade tariffs and subsequently called to say they would not go to war, the US president said.
He also maintained that Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif credited him with saving millions of lives by averting a wider conflict.
India has, however, consistently rejected the suggestion of third-party intervention in the cessation of military action, maintaining that the understanding was reached through direct bilateral military channels.
Operation Sindoor was launched on May 7, 2025, as a targeted response against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The 88-hour conflict was paused on May 10 after a formal request from the Pakistani side.