Operation Sindoor: Pakistan wanted India 'to its knees in 48 hours', but folded up in 8 hours, says CDS Chauhan

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday said Pakistan had planned to bring India “to its knees in 48 hours” through its so-called Operation Bunyan al-Marsoos on 10 May. However, the attacks “folded within eight hours", after which Pakistan reached out and said it wanted to talk.

“On the 10th of May, at about 1 am, their \[Pakistan’s\] aim was to bring India to its knees within 48 hours. Multiple attacks were launched and, in some manner, they escalated the conflict — even though we had only targeted terror sites,” said General Chauhan.

He made the remarks during a lecture on ‘Future Wars and Warfare’ at Savitribai Phule Pune University.

Chauhan said Pakistan launched the operation around 1 am on 10 May, carrying out multiple attacks, but their plan failed swiftly in the face of India’s retaliation under Operation Sindoor.

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#WATCH | Pune | Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan says, "...On the 10th of May, at about 1 am, their (Pakistan) aim was to get India to its knees in 48 hours. Multiple attacks were launched and in some manner, they have escalated this conflict, which we had… pic.twitter.com/hBqlz912cU

— ANI (@ANI) June 3, 2025

“Then they picked up the phone and said they wanted to talk,” Gen Chauhan added.

“We didn’t see each other. We saw it either through radar or at various ranges, except for what was happening on the LoC. It was a mix of kinetic and non-kinetic warfare. When I say non-kinetic, I mean in the information and cyber domains. Of course, there were kinetic operations as well, where destruction was being caused. It was nonlinear in nature — with something happening on the LoC and something as far back as Sargodha,” he said.

On 10 May 2025, after Pakistan launched a series of late-night attacks, India struck back by targeting key airbases, including Nur Khan, Murid, and Rafiqui. Satellite images revealed heavy damage to these Pakistani bases.

Following India’s strong retaliation and the damage inflicted, Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) reached out to his Indian counterpart via the hotline, and a ceasefire was immediately agreed upon.

India’s Operation Sindoor specifically targeted terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, hitting nine locations with precision strikes. The operation was a response to the Pahalgam terror attack, in which Pakistan-backed terrorists killed 26 innocent people, most of them tourists.