NEW DELHI: Lt General Satish Dua decoded “Operation Sindoor” carried out by Indian Armed Forces on Wednesday in retaliation to Pahalgam attack against Pakistan. The operation lasted for 25 minutes and led to the elimination of at least 70 terrorists. The military targeted nine terrorist camps and infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK.In an exclusive interview with the TOI, he also clarified India’s stance following the operation, emphasizing that India has no desire to escalate tensions but remains fully prepared to respond if provoked by Pakistan.”India will only go as far as Pakistan goes,” he said talking about what would be the possible next steps to Operation Sindoor.He further discussed the nature of the strikes and world’s reaction to the operation, especially China.

When asked how far can India go, he said, ” Now, Pakistan does not have wherewithal to have, let alone protracted a short war. It doesn’t have ammunition, it doesn’t have money. So how, how far can it go? Can it escalate into a full-blown conflict? To my military mind, not really. That’s a ballpark answer I gave. But, what it’ll do that will dictate what our response will be.”“What should our response be? As an ascending power and a responsible nation, we would like to keep a check on escalation, the escalatory metrics, because it is in no one’s interest to have a war. Full blown war. This morning news I read somewhere that India has suddenly now jumped to becoming the fourth largest economy. Today we overtaken Japan. So with that, do we want it? Yes, we can have it. We have money, we have ammunition, we are prepared. All that is straight. So that, that’s where this, state of affairs lies,” he added.Reacting to the global response on India’s action and whether it was on expected lines, he said, “I would say it is better than it could have been. Because China has called out, but overall, if you read through the statement, it is fairly muted. They still want countries to resolve their issues. They are duty bound to support Pakistan because there, they talk of their friendship higher than Himalayas, et cetera. So they do make that rhetoric. “But as in the past, as far as high profile terror attacks are concerned, China is not making very pointed or pithy statements against India. And I suspect it is because China also wants to be seen as a responsible nation, and because it is hoping to be the next superpower,” he added.Responding to whether the Pahalgam revenge was complete or there was more coming, he said, “We have to leave it for the present leadership to do it. We are having a discussion over here so, I will not like to categorically comment that if this is ongoing or is over, but all I can state very categorically is India has stated that, we have done this because you did Pahalgam. We have done it without collateral damage or civilian casualties, without hitting any military sites.”“It is also non-escalatory because no civilians have been targeted, no military installations have been targeted, and I think their lies a measured response. The onus now will be on Pakistan,” he noted.Pahalgam attack took place on April 22 and left 25 Indians and one Nepalese citizen dead. Since then, Pakistan has continuously violated ceasefire at LoC areas drawing proportionate response from Indian Army.