During his first press conference of 2026, Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday said that Operation Sindoor is on and warned Islamabad that any "future misadventure" will be "dealt with effectively".
While speaking to mediapersons, General Dwivedi revealed that the Indian Army had already mobilised its troops during Operation Sindoor and was "fully prepared" for ground operations in case Pakistan made "any mistakes".
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Operation executed with precision
General Dwivedi asserted that Operation Sindoor was the "best example of tri-service synergy under a clear-cut political directive and full freedom to act or respond".
Saying that the Operation was carried out with "precision", he informed, "Through 22 minutes of initiation on May 7 and an orchestration that lasted 88 hours up to May 10, the operation reset strategic assumptions by striking deep, dismantling terror infrastructure and puncturing the longstanding nuclear rhetoric."
"This time, 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 people, all that action was taken because we expanded the conventional space. 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 added.
'Situation under control'
General Dwivedi said that after the ceasefire was announced, the situation along the western front and in Jammu and Kashmir "remains sensitive but firmly in control".
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"In 2025, 31 terrorists were eliminated, of which 65 per cent were of Pakistani origin, including the three perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack neutralised in Operation Mahadev," he said.
Shift from terrorism to tourism
The number of active local terrorists is now in single digits, said General Dwivedi.
Terrorist recruitment is nearly non-existent, with only two cases in 2025. There are clear signs of positive change in J&K. These include strong development activities, a boost in tourism and the peaceful Sri Amarnath Yatra, which attracted over four lakh pilgrims, surpassing the five-year average. "The shift from terrorism to tourism is gradually taking shape," he said.
