Pakistan’s policy is to bleed india by a thousand cuts: cds anil chauhan - the statesman

Observing that terrorism has no defined logic and hence cannot be a rational act of warfare, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday said Pakistan’s policy of not having

good relations with India is based on its decision to “bleed India by a thousand cuts”. “In 1965, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declared a thousand-year war against India when he addressed the United

Nations Security Council,” said the CDS while addressing a gathering at Pune University. Advertisement “Is terrorism a rational act of warfare? I don’t think that’s because terrorism has no

defined logic. As far as our adversary is concerned, it has taken the decision to bleed India by a thousand cuts,” he said. Advertisement Holding Pakistan General Asim Munir responsible for

initiating the recent conflict, the CDS pointed towards Munir’s speech wherein he spoke against Hindus and India. “Venom was spewed by General Asim Munir against India and Hindus in a

speech weeks before what happened in Pahalgam,” General Chauhan said, reiterating India’s stance on terror that water and blood cannot flow together. “We have raised the bar as we have

connected terror to war,” he observed while mentioning India’s resolve that any terror attack would now onwards be considered as an act of war. Operation Sindoor, the Indian official said,

created history as far as air warfare is concerned. “Successful operations were carried out against an adversary. If you are able to carry out relentless operations deep inside with

precision and offensive intent. It was a big achievement and we were able to penetrate those air defence networks,” he observed. The CDA also reiterated India’s stance concerning Operation

Sindoor, saying it is not over as yet. “It continues. It’s a temporary cessation of hostilities,” he said, underlining the “need to keep our guard up”. “From our side, we didn’t want to get

into a long-drawn conflict. We’ve seen our experience in Operation Prakaram. We were there for almost nine months. It involves a lot of expenditure, disrupts everything. We had seen this to

some extent after Balakot, there was a deployment which we had mobilized. In this particular case, what happened was that before this mobilization could be completed, the operations were

halted, the officer said. “…As far as the Pakistani side is concerned, I can make two guesses. One, that they were losing things faster at a very long distance, and they thought that if this

continued for some more time, they were likely to lose more, and hence they picked up the telephone,” General Chauhan said. “This was the kind of first no contact warfare which we fought,

except for what was happening on the Line of Control. It was a mix of kinetic and non-kinetic operations,” he explained India’s military operation further. The CDS also said Pakistan was

informed after India hit terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir it would strike back with more force in case it retaliated. “We had informed Pakistan on the day we launched

the surgical strikes on the 7th of May. When there was rhetoric from the Pakistani side, we also said that in case Pakistan hits us, hits the military establishments, we are going to hit

them back, hit them harder,” he said. “On the 10th of May, at about 1 am, their (Pakistan) aim was to get India to its knees in 48 hours. Multiple attacks were launched,” he said, adding

that they escalated the conflict. “Operations which they thought would continue for 48 hours, folded up in about 8 hours and then they picked up the telephone and said they wanted to talk,”

the CDS said. India carried out precision strikes on nine terror camps in Pakistan and on May 7 under the codename Operation Sindoor. It was in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

Escalating it, Pakistan launched drones and missiles on Indian border cities. The attack invited stronger retaliation from India and after four days of drone and missile strikes, both

countries agreed to a ceasefire. Advertisement