Over 100 Pakistani soldiers may have died in hostilities after Op Sindoor: Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai

New Delhi: Pakistan may have lost over 100 of its soldiers during the India-Pakistan hostilities that followed Operation Sindoor, a top Indian Army officer said here on Tuesday, inferring on the basis of the gallantry award list that Islamabad released on its independence day on Aug 14.

“There were cross border firing by Pakistan immediately once the terror targets were engaged. In my (past) media interaction I said 35-40 is our (enemy casualty) estimate.. but Pakistanis possibly unwittingly let out their awards list on August 14, and the number of posthumous awards that they awarded suggests to us now that their casualties on the LoC were also in excess of 100,” Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, Director General of Military Operations said.

Lt Gen Ghai, who was the DGMO during Op Sindoor in May, was addressing a conclave of the Army Chiefs from 34 nations that contribute troops for the UN peacekeeping forces.

On why Pakistan sponsored the dastardly terror strike at Pahalgam killing innocent civilians, he said the Pakistan army and its chief were under duress at the time. “There was a need for him to revive not only his image, but that of the Pak army itself. The best way and the only way that is known to them was to do what they did, as cowardly as it may have been.”

The senior officer asserted that the Indian action was inevitable and all the three services were together in planning and coordinating their responses towards the adversary.

“The navy had sailed into the Arabian Sea and when the DGMO spoke, they were very well poised. Had the enemy decided to take it any further, it could have been catastrophic for them and not only from the sea but from other dimensions,” Lt Gen Ghai said.

On the air strike, he said, “The drones came in in large numbers even after the two DGMOs had spoken. This led us to swing the Indian Air Force into action. In the precision strikes they carried out on the night of May 9-10, we hit 11 of their air bases... Eight air bases, three hangars and four radars were damaged. Pakistani air assets were destroyed on the ground.”

Following the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian forces struck at nine terror targets across the border including the JeM headquarters at Bahawalpur and LeT headquarters at Muridke. In response, Pakistan attacked India leading to four days of conflict on the western front.

"88 hours is what it took for the enemy to come and ask for a cessation of hostilities. Our military actions were targeted, controlled, non-escalatory, and we openly acknowledged them to maintain our credibility. We carried out some significant and telling forward deployments, extending our punitive reach to unprecedented levels,” the DGMO added.