‘If you ask a Pakistani...’: Indian Army chief mocks Pakistan’s Asim Munir over victory claims after Operation Sindoor

India’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Upendra Dwivedi, took a jab at Pakistan’s claim of victory in the clashes in May after the Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor. Speaking at IIT Madras, he highlighted the key role in shaping narratives during the conflict.

“If you ask a Pakistani whether you lost or won, he’d say, ‘My chief has become a field marshal. We must have won, that’s why he’s become a field marshal,” he said. Dwivedi was referring to the recent promotion of Pakistan’s army chief, Asif Munir, to a five-star general and field marshal.

General Dwivedi further hailed the central government’s decision to give the Indian Armed Forces complete freedom, which was essential to the success of the mission. He also recalled Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks a day after the deadly Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians, when he told the service chiefs, “Enough is enough.”

“This is the first time that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, ‘Enough is enough.’ All three chiefs were very clear that something had to be done. The free hand was given ‘you decide what is to be done.’ That is the kind of confidence, political direction, and political clarity we saw for the first time,” he said.

He further added, “That is what raises your morale. That is how it helped our army commanders-in-chief to be on the ground and act as per their wisdom.”

Speaking at the HAL Management Academy in Bengaluru, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh also credited the government’s stance, saying that the presence of political will was a key reason for success. He added that the political will and directions given to the armed forces were “very clear”. “No restrictions were put on us... If there were any constraints, they were self-made. The forces decided what the rules of engagement would be. We decided how we wanted to control the escalation. We had full freedom to plan and execute,” he said.

‘Played chess’

General Dwivedi described the operation as “playing chess” in a “grey zone”. He revealed that the planning for the operation began on April 23, and by April 25, the Northern Command had struck seven of nine high-value targets, eliminating several terrorists.

“In Op Sindoor, what we did, we played chess… What does it mean! It means that we did not know what step the enemy was going to take and what we were going to do. It was a grey zone. The grey zone is that we are not going for the conventional operations, but we are doing something which is just short of the conventional operations,” he said.