‘Tactical mistake’: Security analyst warns CDS's remark arms Pakistan, China with narrative advantage
Urging for damage control, the analyst added, “There is still time to explain the term ‘tactical mistake’. That is the only damage control one can look for in such a situation. It is a wrong term used in the wrong sense which may lead to damaging interpretations at the international stage.”
- Jun 1, 2025,
- Updated Jun 5, 2025 4:50 PM IST
In the aftermath of Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan’s remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Security Affairs Analyst Divya Kumar Soti has raised sharp concerns over the general's use of the phrase "tactical mistake" in reference to the recent India-Pakistan military clash.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Soti wrote, “Either CDS should not have uttered the phrase ‘tactical mistake’ and if he had, he should have explained it in detail. There was simply no need to disclose the extremely sensitive fact that it took ‘two days’ to identify and fix this so-called ‘tactical mistake’.”
Soti emphasised the consequences of ambiguity in high-stakes military communication. “Now, this ‘tactical mistake’ thing has been left as an open field for the enemy which is going to sell bizarre interpretations of it and Chinese, who were on backfoot all this while and were saying that PL-15 used by Pakistan was just an ‘export version’, in particular are going to exploit this terminology to restore lost prestige of their armoury.”
He further noted, “Shahbaz Sharif’s ‘before we could do anything, Brahmos hit us before Fajr’ revelation will be swept under the carpet and GHQ Pindi will get the textbook narrative victory it was starving for. One can go on counting the damaging ramifications but what has been said has been said.”
Urging for damage control, Soti added, “There is still time to explain the term ‘tactical mistake’. That is the only damage control one can look for in such a situation. It is a wrong term used in the wrong sense which may lead to damaging interpretations at the international stage.”
In interviews on May 31 with Bloomberg TV during the security summit in Singapore, CDS Chauhan addressed the clash between May 7-10, asserting, “What is important is not the jet being down, but why they were being downed. What mistakes were made -- those are important. Numbers are not important. The good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew our jets again, targeting at long range.”
Chauhan also dismissed Pakistan’s claims of shooting down six Indian jets as “absolutely incorrect.”
In the aftermath of Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan’s remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Security Affairs Analyst Divya Kumar Soti has raised sharp concerns over the general's use of the phrase "tactical mistake" in reference to the recent India-Pakistan military clash.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Soti wrote, “Either CDS should not have uttered the phrase ‘tactical mistake’ and if he had, he should have explained it in detail. There was simply no need to disclose the extremely sensitive fact that it took ‘two days’ to identify and fix this so-called ‘tactical mistake’.”
Soti emphasised the consequences of ambiguity in high-stakes military communication. “Now, this ‘tactical mistake’ thing has been left as an open field for the enemy which is going to sell bizarre interpretations of it and Chinese, who were on backfoot all this while and were saying that PL-15 used by Pakistan was just an ‘export version’, in particular are going to exploit this terminology to restore lost prestige of their armoury.”
He further noted, “Shahbaz Sharif’s ‘before we could do anything, Brahmos hit us before Fajr’ revelation will be swept under the carpet and GHQ Pindi will get the textbook narrative victory it was starving for. One can go on counting the damaging ramifications but what has been said has been said.”
Urging for damage control, Soti added, “There is still time to explain the term ‘tactical mistake’. That is the only damage control one can look for in such a situation. It is a wrong term used in the wrong sense which may lead to damaging interpretations at the international stage.”
In interviews on May 31 with Bloomberg TV during the security summit in Singapore, CDS Chauhan addressed the clash between May 7-10, asserting, “What is important is not the jet being down, but why they were being downed. What mistakes were made -- those are important. Numbers are not important. The good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew our jets again, targeting at long range.”
Chauhan also dismissed Pakistan’s claims of shooting down six Indian jets as “absolutely incorrect.”