Pakistan will strike deeper within India if there’s another Sindoor: Army

F.P. Report

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan will strike “deeper within India” and “start from the east” if India were to carry out any military action along the lines of Operation Sindoor in the future, director general of Pakistan military’s media wing told The Economist.

Lt-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, spokesman for the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), also downplayed speculation that Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir harbours any political ambitions or that his ideological bent is more stark than that of his predecessors. 

Asked how Pakistan would respond to any future Indian military action, given Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion that terror attacks would be met with decisive force, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry added, “They also need to understand that they can be hit everywhere.”

The remarks come amid heightened tensions between the two countries following the Pahalgam attack and India’s response in the form of Operation Sindoor launched by Indian armed forces on 7 May.

The Pakistani military spokesman further underlined that Army Chief Asim Munir’s speech on 16 April, just six days before the Pahalgam attack, reflected his personal beliefs. “He was saying what he stands for, what he is ready to die for,” Chaudhry added.

In the speech, Munir revived the ‘two-nation theory’ and called Kashmir the “jugular vein” of Pakistan. “We are two nations, not one,” he declared. “Our forefathers thought we are different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life—our religions, customs, traditions, thoughts and ambitions.” He added that “no power in the world” could separate Kashmir from Pakistan.

In his conversation with The Economist, Chaudhry further dismissed talks that Army Chief Asim Munir harbours political ambitions, calling suggestions of a presidential bid “nonsense”. He rejected the notion that Army Chief Asim Munir is more ideological than his predecessors, describing him instead as someone “well-versed with the West” and “resolutely opposed” to jihadist groups operating within Pakistan.