'This is not the end, we must be prepared for...': Ex-Army chief warns of possible retaliation after Op Sindoor

Former Army chief General MM Naravane on Wednesday said that the Indian military's strikes on terror camps inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor should not be seen as the conclusion of a chapter, but rather the "means to an end" in a broader strategic campaign.

"The poignantly named Operation Sindoor was not long in coming," Naravane wrote in ThePrint. "Launched within two weeks of the Pahalgam attack, 24 coordinated missile strikes on nine different and widely separated terrorist sites once again demonstrated the military's ability to strike at 'a time and place of one’s own choosing'."

The former Army chief said the selection of targets and the approach taken by India reflected a calibrated and focused military response, aimed solely at punishing the perpetrators of terrorism. "After two earlier surgical strikes — one on the ground and another through the air — Pakistan may have expected something similar. Instead, by choosing an entirely different tactic this time, India ensured the element of surprise."

Highlighting the strategic and symbolic significance of the targets, Naravane stated that the choice of Bahawalpur and Muridke was particularly telling — not just because they served as the headquarters of JeM and LeT — but because they lay outside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. "This sends a clear message that any location inside Pakistan hosting terror infrastructure is now a legitimate target."

Issuing a note of caution, he said: "It's premature to celebrate. Signals from the Pakistani military establishment even before these strikes suggested a belligerent posture, one driven by both domestic pressure and international scrutiny. We must be prepared for a potential retaliatory move."

He also analysed Pakistan's limited options for response: "Targeting civilians in Jammu & Kashmir would amount to attacking their own people. Expanding the conflict to other border states would only escalate matters further. The only possible avenue left would be a strike on Indian military installations, which would raise the stakes dramatically."

Referring to the timing of India’s upcoming drills on May 7, he noted: "That date may have lulled Pakistan into a false sense of security. They likely assumed we wouldn’t strike before full preparedness. Well—surprise, surprise."

Concluding his message, Naravane underscored that Operation Sindoor should not be seen in isolation. "This strike is part of a larger national strategy, following coordinated diplomatic and economic efforts to expose Pakistan as a state sponsor of terror. These are not the final steps—but the first in a longer campaign."

As part of Operation Sindoor, India struck nine terror sites, including key camps in Bahawalpur, Muridke, Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Barnala, and Sialkot. Many of these camps were disguised as health centres, and officials cited intelligence linking them directly to attacks like the 26/11 Mumbai terror siege, the Pulwama bombing, and the recent Pahalgam massacre.