India’s Chief of Army Staff, General Upendra Dwivedi, on Tuesday clarified that no discussions of nuclear warfare took place between Indian and Pakistani military officials during Operation Sindoor, the May 2025 cross-border military operation. Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, Dwivedi emphasized that while political figures and segments of the Pakistani public engaged in nuclear rhetoric, there was no indication that such threats originated from the military, according to news agency ANI.
“As far as nuclear rhetoric is concerned, I would like to say that there was no discussion on nuclear in the DGMO talks, and whatever nuclear rhetoric was given by the politicians or given by the local public in Pakistan, I have no indication that anything of that sort came from the military,” Dwivedi stated.
The army chief also provided a detailed account of India’s conventional military strategy during the operation. He rejected claims that conflicts automatically escalate from sub-conventional to nuclear domains, explaining that India deliberately expanded its conventional space to conduct operations on the ground. “When we talk about our role in this… the action we took, especially the kind of firing that took place in Jammu and Kashmir, and the way we addressed it, and how we eliminated approximately 100 of their personnel — all that action was taken because we expanded the conventional space,” he said.
Dwivedi reported that around 100 individuals associated with Pakistan were killed in targeted firing incidents along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir. He noted that Pakistan had inadvertently released a list of roughly 150 individuals, which was later withdrawn, and Indian forces successfully neutralized the majority of them.
The army chief highlighted the role of drones in the operation, saying their importance was significantly accelerated following Operation Sindoor. He also stressed that the Indian military’s preparedness allowed for potential ground operations if Pakistan made any miscalculations. “In those 88 hours, you saw that the army’s mobilisation to expand the conventional space was such that if Pakistan made any mistake, we were fully prepared to launch ground operations,” he said.
Operation Sindoor, conducted jointly by India’s Army, Navy, and Air Force, marked the most significant Indian action inside Pakistani territory in over five decades. The strikes targeted locations linked to terrorist groups Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), with the operation reportedly carried out in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir. Special precision munitions were deployed as part of the carefully coordinated campaign, which drew attention for its scale and strategic impact on regional security.
