Modi told forces to ‘teach Pakistan a big lesson’ after Pahalgam attack : Ex-CDS Anil Chauhan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told India’s top military leadership to “teach Pakistan a big lesson” following the Pahalgam terror attack and authorised the armed forces to decide the timing of their response, former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan (retd) said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Vivekananda International Foundation, Chauhan revealed details of a crucial April 29 meeting attended by Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the three service chiefs and the former CDS.

According to Chauhan, the meeting concluded that India could not tolerate cross-border terrorism and needed to deliver an “unthinkable” response.

“The big decision there was that we should teach Pakistan a big lesson, because India will not tolerate cross-border terrorism and this must end,” Chauhan said, describing the direction given at the meeting.

He said Modi told the military leadership that they could act at a time of their choosing, but there should be no scope for failure and the operation must produce evidence of the strikes.

The comments offer the first public account by Chauhan of how the government and military leadership finalised key elements of Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, 2025, in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Chauhan said the April 29 meeting focused specifically on deciding how military force would be used, while decisions concerning diplomacy and economic measures had been taken earlier.

“On April 23, the other instruments of power -- how do you want to use diplomacy, your economic power -- those decisions were also taken,” he said.

Between April 23 and April 29, the Chiefs of Staff Committee met several times and held discussions with the NSA, examining different military options before presenting them to the government.

Chauhan said the choice of Bahawalpur as a target was particularly significant. The site, associated with Jaish-e-Mohammed, was added to the target list at the insistence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after Modi stressed that the response needed to be substantial.

“Once we included the Bahawalpur target in the list, the use of air became inherent in it,” Chauhan said, explaining that drones and loitering munitions would not have had the required range to reach the target.

Markaz Taiba in Muridke and Markaz Subhanallah in Bahawalpur were among the nine terror infrastructure sites targeted in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7.

Chauhan said the timing of the strikes was carefully considered. There were initial concerns about carrying out attacks around midnight and obtaining evidence in complete darkness, but the military ultimately relied on its capabilities to conduct the operation while maintaining the element of surprise.

He said Modi had not placed the military under political pressure to act immediately.

“He had also said, ‘do it at your own time, but ensure there is no reason for failure, either due to human or technical reason, and we should have evidence of whatever we do’,” Chauhan said.

The former CDS said identifying targets was among the biggest challenges faced by the military and intelligence agencies. Some terror facilities had been vacated after Modi’s warning, while others had been reoccupied or shifted, requiring continuous monitoring and reassessment.

“There was a constant battle going on between us, intelligence agencies, our military intelligence, as to which are the camps we should strike,” he said.

Chauhan said the military leadership had assured the government that the armed forces were capable of carrying out whichever option was eventually approved and sustaining operations beyond the initial phase.

He said no military can ever be completely prepared for every possible scenario and that assessments of an adversary remain an ongoing process.

Chauhan also described Operation Sindoor as “still ongoing”, although major portions of the operation had been completed.

According to him, decisions taken at the Chiefs of Staff Committee level included the alert status of the three services, the timing and date of the operation, based on assessments made between April 23 and May 6.

He said clear political direction was essential for military planning and that such direction was provided at the April 29 meeting.

India has maintained that Operation Sindoor established a new threshold in its response to terrorism, with the government describing the policy as a shift from deterrence towards direct action when terror is used as a state policy.

Chauhan said military strategy must also evolve continuously.

“You can't repeat a strategy against an adversary,” he said.