India Fully Armed to Counter Any Threat from Pakistan: Senior Army Official

A top Indian Army official has stated that the nation is adequately armed with a powerful arsenal of weapons, allowing it to face "the whole of Pakistan," whether from along the border or far inside its borders.

During an interview with ANI on Monday, Lieutenant General Sumer Ivan D'Cunha, head of the Army's Air Defence branch, pointed out that any movement of Pakistan's military headquarters away from Rawalpindi would provide scant strategic benefit since all conceivable locations lie within range of Indian firepower.

"India possesses a sufficient cache of weapons to confront Pakistan across its depth. We are definitely capable from our periphery or even in depth where we can confront the whole of Pakistan. The GHQ (Pakistan Army general headquarters) can shift from Rawalpindi to KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) or wherever they like to shift, but all of them are within range. So, they'll have to quite literally search for a deep hole," D'Cunha opined.

Talking on the coordination of the Army with the Golden Temple officials, D'Cunha appreciated their realization of the matter and willingness to help in defence arrangements. "The Golden Temple leadership realized there was perhaps a threat when they were made to understand. They let us use guns, to guard… the lights of the Golden Temple were turned off so that we could easily visualize the drones as they were approaching.". And that provided us with a better clarity in the sky because as and when you noticed the light, you knew what to tackle.

During a media briefing held in Amritsar, the Indian Army showcased remains of missiles and drones fired from Pakistan that were shot down in mid-air by Indian air defence systems. The display also featured a display of cutting-edge technology such as upgraded L-70 Air Defence Guns and AKASH missile systems, which helped counter threats at vital points like the Golden Temple and other urban hubs in the state of Punjab.

Lt Gen D'Cunha also underscored that the effectiveness of the precision strike operation refutes the conclusion that Pakistan must have had pre-intelligence. "For any success in any conflict, a surprise is the biggest factor. And the fact that… we acquired a hundred terrorists (in the precision strikes on May 7-8), if not more, at their specific locations where the camps were, that itself provides you with an answer."

While this, meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday once again criticized Operation Sindoor. "EAM Jaishankar's silence isn't just telling – it's damning. So I'll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew? This wasn't a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth." This is his second public statement on the operation in the past few days. In response to his earlier criticism, the Ministry of External Affairs had described Gandhi’s remarks as “a misrepresentation of facts.”