India 'will not show restraint' next time: Army chief warns Pakistan

New Delhi: In yet another stern message to Pakistan, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi on Friday warned Islamabad to stop sponsoring terrorism in India or lose its “geographical presence” as India would not show any restraint had there been an Operation Sindoor 2.0.

"India is fully prepared this time. And this time, we will not show the restraint that we showed in Operation Sindoor 1.0.

"This time we will take a step forward and act in a manner that will make Pakistan think whether it wants to remain on the world map or not," Gen Dwivedi said, addressing soldiers at Anupgarh in Rajasthan's Sriganganagar district.

This comes a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said any misadventure by Pakistan in the Sir Creek sector in Gujarat would invite an Indian reaction so strong and decisive that it would change both history and geography.

Gen Dwivedi also visited Bikaner Military Station to review the operational preparedness of the formation and spoke to the troops deployed at forward locations. During the visit, he was also briefed on operational matters, technology infusion, integration with other security agencies.

Asking the soldiers to stay prepared, Gen Dwivedi said the restraint shown by New Delhi during Operation Sindoor would not be repeated in case of a future military conflict. "Keep yourselves fully prepared now, if god wants, the opportunity will come soon," he said.

At a media interaction in Delhi Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh noted that India began Operation Sindoor with “clear objectives” and terminated the military action in time once those objectives were met. This is something the world needs to learn from us.”

The Army Chief said India provided evidence to the world about the presence of terrorist hideouts in Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. Had India not unearthed this evidence, Pakistan would have hidden all of it, he said.

“The entire world stood with India when it launched Operation Sindoor in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam attack. He said the Indian military hit nine targets inside Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, of which seven were hit by the Army and two by the Air Force,” Gen Dwivedi said.

"We identified specific targets as we only wanted to harm the terrorists and aimed to strike their bases. We have no complaints against ordinary Pakistani citizens. Because terrorists were being sponsored, those terrorist targets were hit," he added.