Army chief explains how timing for Operation Sindoor strikes was chosen, mentions Namaz factor

INdia’s functioning Sindoor was planned and executed non only when with precision but also with carefully considered timing, ground forces Chief Upendra Dwivedi said, telltale(a) that the armed forces deliberately avoided striking terror hubs during prayer hours.“When we were preparing to strike these targets, the timing could have been 2 o’clock, 4 o’clock — at any hour,” he said, explaining the operational flexibility. However, he added that the forces deliberately held back at certain times.“We ensured that we would not act at a time when people on the other side might be offering Namaz at the terrorist camps,” he said.Dwivedi summed up the approach by saying: “sabka malik ek hai (There is one God for all). That is why we chose a time when we knew such prayers were not taking place.” The army chief was referring to the military operation, launched in May last year after the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam left 26 people dead, mostly tourists. The attack saw Pakistan-backed terrorists storm a popular tourist valley, triggering a swift Indian military response targeting terror launchpads across the Pakistan border and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) regions.Pakistan responded with a sharp escalation in the days following Operation Sindoor, launching drones and carrying out shelling. In a span of about a week, Islamabad sent swarms of drones towards India, most of which were successfully intercepted mid-air, though some caused damage in areas along the border.As losses mounted for Islamabad, Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) reached out to his Indian counterpart and both sides agreed to halt all military actions — on land, in the air, and at sea — effectively on May 10, 2025.A ‘defining case study’ in modern warfareOn Thursday, Dwivedi further described the operation as a turning point in India’s military evolution.He was speaking at the ‘Ran Samvad’ forum in Bengaluru, when he said, “Operation Sindoor was India's most powerful tool of progression towards domain jointness. But we need to achieve domain integration and fusion," reported news agency PTI.The Army chief also pointed to the growing importance of non-kinetic operations, adding that a significant portion of the effort went beyond the battlefield.“15 per cent of our effort was on managing the disinformation campaign,” he said, highlighting the parallel information war that accompanied the military action.Post-operation, the Army has moved to strengthen its capabilities in this space, including setting up an information warfare organisation and a psychological defence division, he added.However, Dwivedi cautioned that challenges persist, particularly in synchronising actions across strategic, operational and tactical levels.“These are typically below the conventional military threshold, with the goal to exploit adversary vulnerability,” he noted, warning that such grey-zone tactics are becoming increasingly central in modern conflicts.