Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan has disclosed that India deliberately postponed responding to Pakistan’s request for a ceasefire during Operation Sindoor, choosing instead to continue military operations until key strategic objectives had been achieved.
Speaking at ThePrint’s Off The Cuff event, General Chauhan said Pakistan reached out through the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) hotline on the morning of May 10, 2025, seeking an immediate ceasefire. However, India chose not to respond immediately because several planned military strikes were yet to be executed. According to the former CDS, New Delhi wanted to ensure that its military objectives were decisively met before considering any halt in hostilities.
Recalling the events of May 10, General Chauhan said Pakistan’s decision to initiate contact came as an unexpected development, particularly after its aggressive rhetoric just a day earlier. “The biggest surprise for me was Pakistan’s decision to call India for talks on May 10. It was surprising because on May 9, the kind of rhetoric emerging from the Pakistani side was that they would sort India out in 48 hours,” he said. General Chauhan revealed that Pakistan sought a ceasefire within hours of India’s intensified military offensive. “Within about eight hours, they (Pakistan) picked up the phone. We had not even executed half of our plans,” he said. Gen Chauhan added that India intentionally did not agree to the ceasefire proposal immediately. “Why we did not accept (the truce) at 9.30 am but carried on till afternoon was because we wanted the victory to be more decisive,” he further said.
Wave of Indian strikes continued after Pakistan’s request
The attacks reportedly targeted military infrastructure, including aircraft hangars, radar facilities and fighter aircraft, demonstrating the reach and precision of the Indian Armed Forces. Gen Chauhan said additional waves of strikes had already been planned as part of the operation to reinforce the message that no military installation inside Pakistan was beyond India’s operational capability.
Why Pakistan sought a ceasefire
Explaining Pakistan’s decision to seek an end to the hostilities, Gen Chauhan said Islamabad believed it had already achieved the intended impact through its strikes on Indian targets. At the same time, it had also witnessed the scale of damage inflicted by Indian Air Force operations during the night of May 9 and the early hours of May 10. According to him, Pakistan realised that continued escalation would result in greater military losses. Gen Chauhan said Pakistan understood that if the conflict continued, it would lose “faster” and “further”, forcing it to initiate contact through the DGMO hotline while Indian operations were still in progress.
Pakistan’s military sites remain under repair
The former CDS also claimed that the impact of India’s strikes was substantial, with damage inflicted on several key Pakistani military facilities. He said installations such as Nur Khan in Rawalpindi, Rahim Yar Khan and Bholari suffered extensive damage and continue to undergo repairs even now. According to him, the strikes were intended to send a clear strategic signal that every military installation in Pakistan remained within the operational reach of the Indian Armed Forces.
What was Operation Sindoor?
Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7, 2025, in response to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 25 tourists. During the first phase of the operation, Indian forces carried out precision strikes on nine terror camps located inside Pakistan that were linked to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Pakistan subsequently launched drones and missiles targeting military installations in border areas across Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan. Indian air defence systems intercepted or neutralised most of the incoming threats. Following those attacks, India expanded its military response by targeting multiple Pakistani military installations as part of the next phase of Operation Sindoor.