Lieutenant General Dushyant Singh (Retd), Director General of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) in New Delhi, has warned that Operation Sindoor 2.0 appears inevitable.

Speaking at the ninth edition of the Late Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon (PVC) Annual Memorial Lecture, organised by the Air Force Association's Gujarat Branch at the Indian Air Force's South Western Air Command (SWAC) headquarters near Gandhinagar, he urged India's armed forces to prepare rigorously.

Singh asserted that Pakistan's military fixation on the Kashmir issue, bolstered by support from China and Turkey, heightens the risk of renewed conflict. He described the ceasefire from Operation Sindoor in May 2025 as fragile, citing repeated violations along the Line of Control (LoC) by Pakistan.

'Operation Sindoor was not the end, but the beginning of new dynamics of escalation management,' Singh stated. He emphasised that future conflict with adversaries is not merely possible but inevitable, adding, 'The earlier we prepare for it, the better we are.'

The original Operation Sindoor marked India's swift, targeted response to a major terrorist attack in Pahalgam. It aimed to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and launchpads inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir over four intense days.

Singh hailed one key success: a doctrinal shift that discarded restraint and exposed Pakistan's vulnerabilities. For the first time since the 1971 war, tri-service synergy was achieved, with political clarity translating into military precision and air defence innovation that surprised global observers.

Air Vice Marshal Anil Golani (Retd), Director General of the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), echoed this by describing Operation Sindoor as a strategic pivot from restraint to 'deterrence by punishment'. He noted that Pakistan's aggressive actions during the conflict revealed deeper collusion with China, which exploited the episode to test its weapons.

Despite these triumphs, Singh pinpointed critical shortcomings, particularly in narrative-building and international diplomacy. India's diplomatic missions were not briefed aggressively, and pro-India lobbies abroad remained under-utilised, allowing Pakistan to dominate the information space.

Pakistani social media influencers flooded platforms like TikTok, amplified by Chinese networks, even targeting youth in Bangladesh. Singh stressed that narrative warfare was not fully leveraged, a gap India cannot afford in future confrontations.

Cyber warfare intensified dramatically during the operation. Singh revealed a sevenfold surge in cyber attacks on government networks, with the power sector facing nearly two lakh assaults and the National Stock Exchange enduring around 40 crore.

Had any of these attacks succeeded, they could have sparked a financial crisis, Singh warned. He criticised India's counter-offensive cyber operations as poorly articulated or insufficiently publicised, underscoring the opacity in this domain.

Modern conflicts now span multi-domain warfare beyond land, sea, and air, Singh observed. Chinese media engaged deeply in data analysis to craft messages amplifying India's perceived fault lines, highlighting the need for coordinated information propagation.

To address these challenges, Singh recommended codifying a comprehensive national security strategy. He called for reforms in intelligence and internal security, fast-tracking integrated theatre commands, and raising defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP, excluding pensions, with a shift to outcome-based budgeting.

Further, he advocated creating dedicated Cyber Warfare and Cognitive Warfare Commands. Overhauling strategic communications is essential, as siloed messaging from agencies like the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Ministry of Defence (MoD) led to delayed rebuttals that bolstered Pakistan's narrative.

Weak technology integration failed to counter viral claims about Indian jets, Singh noted. He urged deploying AI for disinformation tracking and mobilising India's 32 million-strong diaspora as narrative amplifiers to mend these deficiencies.

Singh expressed confidence in the Indian government's capacity to handle future threats, provided these lessons are internalised. Operation Sindoor's legacy lies in its demonstration of escalation management, but sustained preparation across military, cyber, and informational fronts will determine success against Operation Sindoor 2.0.

Based On PTI Report