Build Sindoor Durg: Ex-Army chief says India must prepare for next strike, build fortress-like defences

India must prepare for the next strike, as threats from adversaries are far from over, former Army chief General MM Naravane warned on Monday. Drawing a parallel between the historical Sindhudurg Fort built by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and India's current strategic position post-Operation Sindoor, Naravane called for transforming the country into "Sindoor Durg" — a modern fortress against multi-domain threats.

"The military strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan under Operation Sindoor have only been paused," Naravane wrote in an opinion piece in The Print, adding that Pakistan, despite suffering reputational and military losses, will be "thirsting for revenge". "Buoyed by the grant of the IMF bailout, and by promoting Asim Munir to the rank of Field Marshal, Pakistan’s politico-military leadership hopes to retain their tenuous hold on power. Since another misadventure cannot be ruled out, we have to guard against even more varied and audacious threats," he stated.

Naravane stressed that India's response to emerging threats must go beyond retaliation. "Having demonstrated its military prowess in Operation Sindoor, India should now transform itself into Sindoor Durg, an impenetrable fortress, safe from multi-domain threats emanating from land, sea, air or cyberspace," he wrote. He tied this vision to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement: “Terror and trade cannot go together, water and blood cannot flow together."

He cautioned that a Pahalgam-type attack could not have occurred without intelligence failures, pointing to gaps in the ground-level network. "Having eyes and ears on the ground and a feel of the pulse of the population are the mainstays of any counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism strategy,” Naravane wrote.

Naravane said while India's indigenous weapon systems have performed admirably, long-pending defence procurement proposals need to be fast-tracked, even if it means going in for limited imports. "The next strike is coming; we need to be prepared, and Atmanirbharta should not come at the cost of defence preparedness."

He welcomed the Centre's decision to grant emergency procurement powers to the armed forces but argued for making these provisions permanent. “It gives rise to a feeling that we are always in a state of unpreparedness...The emergency powers provisions need to be made permanent... perhaps also renamed,” he suggested.

Expanding the idea of a fortress beyond defence, Naravane said Sindoor Durg should also be a base for political and economic offensives. He supported India's recent move to send political delegations abroad to explain its stance post-Pahalgam, but added that including military voices would “have lent further heft."

Despite India's recent diplomatic outreach, he noted, “no other country abstained from voting on the $2.3 billion IMF bailout package for Pakistan,” and that only Israel and Taiwan extended unconditional support to India after the Pahalgam massacre. "The long road ahead in winning the perception war” remains, he said.

Naravane argued that economic strength is essential for military strength. “Only when our economic base is strong, will we be able to project our military strength,” he said, adding that India should aim to become the third-largest economy by 2030 to secure global influence comparable to the US and China.

“The new India is not like a tortoise which retracts defensively... but like a swarm of bees which will strike at anyone who dares threaten the hive,” the former top general concluded.