‘Whole of Pakistan is within range’: Relocating HQ won’t help, says top Army official

India has the capability to strike across the full depth of Pakistan, including any relocated military headquarters, Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D'Cunha, Director General of Army Air Defence, said on Monday, in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor.

Speaking to ANI, Lt Gen D'Cunha stated, “The whole of Pakistan is within range,” while emphasizing India’s military preparedness. He warned that even if the Pakistan Army shifts its General Headquarters (GHQ) from Rawalpindi to a more remote area like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it would still remain vulnerable. “They will have to really find a deep hole,” he added.

Operation Sindoor represented a significant evolution in India’s strategic posture, moving from reactive defense to proactive precision strikes. The operation used loitering munitions and indigenous long-range drones to hit key Pakistani airbases, destroying high-value military assets with no civilian casualties.

Lt Gen D'Cunha underlined the operation’s success in defending Indian territory and civilian areas. “We have been able to protect our motherland from this onslaught... and ensured that this did not manifest in any casualties,” he said. “It made the soldier feel proud. It made the families feel proud. And finally, the population of India feel proud.”

He also credited the operation with embodying India’s “Shishupala Doctrine”—a calibrated approach of tolerance followed by decisive military action when provoked beyond a threshold.

Lt Gen D'Cunha also confirmed that during the operation, India deployed air defence systems within the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. The deployment was made possible with the approval of the shrine's head granthi, who permitted the Army to set up defensive positions and ordered the temple lights switched off for the first time in history to aid detection of enemy drones.

“Fortunately, we visualised what they (Pakistan) were capable of doing,” D'Cunha told ANI. “They were more interested in creating confusion and chaos internally, targeting civilian areas and religious sites.”

Praising the cooperation from Sikh religious authorities, he said, “It was very nice that the Head Granthi of the Golden Temple allowed us to deploy our guns... so that we could see the drone coming.”