India’s Anti-Terror Doctrine Evolves: Lieutenant General Ghai Reveals Major Strategic Shift At UN Conclave

Talking about India's anti-terror doctrine at the United Nations Troop Contributing Countries' Chiefs' Conclave, Director General of Military Operations Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai revealed that India's approach has matured beyond traditional binaries of peace and war. There has been a doctrinal shift in our strategy against terror, he said.

Lt Gen Ghai disclosed that Pakistan's posthumous military awards, issued on 14 August, inadvertently revealed that Pakistani casualties along the LoC exceeded 100 personnel during Operation Sindoor in May this year, PTI reported.

The operation, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, reportedly resulted in around 100 terrorists being eliminated at nine targets across Pakistan.

Independent analysis of Pakistan's awards list identified 138 personnel honoured posthumously, though Islamabad has maintained significantly lower official casualty figures.

The doctrinal shift represents India's evolution towards what Lt Gen Ghai termed "a fusion of military precision and diplomatic agility".

During Operation Sindoor, which targeted terrorist infrastructure following an attack that killed 26 tourists, Pakistani forces requested cessation of hostilities within 88 hours.

India struck nine targets across Pakistan and subsequently neutralised Pakistani military responses, including hitting 11 air bases during counter-operations.

“We hit 11 of their air bases. If you see, eight air bases, three hangars and four radars were damaged. Pakistani air assets were destroyed on the ground as well,” he said.

According to him, the losses sustained by Pakistan on the ground included “one C-130 class of aircraft and one AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning & Control), four to five fighter jets.”

He further noted that Pakistan faced setbacks in aerial engagements too. “We now know that the world’s longest ever ground-to-air kill was at 300 kilometres plus and five high-tech fighters (were hit). I think the impunity with which these attacks were carried out is what is significant,” Lt Gen Ghai added.

The new doctrine against terrorism, he said, eliminates distinctions between terrorists and their state sponsors, treats terror attacks as acts of war, and rejects nuclear blackmail as a deterrent to counter-terrorism operations.

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