Stop supporting terrorism or risk erasure from map: Indian army chief warns Pakistan

Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Friday gave a stern warning to Pakistan, saying, the neighbouring country must stop supporting terrorism if it wants to "retain its place on the world map."

Speaking to soldiers at Anupgarh in Rajasthan's Sriganganagar district, General Dwivedi stressed that the restraint shown by India during Operation Sindoor would not be repeated in any future conflict.

"India, as a country, is fully prepared this time. And this time, it will not show the restraint that it showed during Operation Sindoor 1.0. This time we will take a step forward and act in a manner that will make Pakistan think whether it wants to remain on the world map or not," news agency PTI quoted army chief as saying.

Dwivedi also urged Indian soldiers to remain ready for action. "Keep yourselves fully prepared now, if god wants, the opportunity will come soon," he said, noting the importance of vigilance amid continuing threats.

The army chief also claimed that India had exposed terrorist hideouts in Pakistan during its military confrontation, asserting that without India's intervention, these would have remained concealed from the world's view.

'We only wanted to harm terrorists'

General Dwivedi said India targeted nine terror sites inside Pakistan, seven by the Army and two by the Air Force.

"We had identified the targets because we only wanted to harm the terrorists. We had aimed to strike their bases. We have no complaints against ordinary Pakistani citizens, so long as their country does not sponsor terrorists. Because terrorists were being sponsored, those terrorist targets were hit," he said, reported PTI.

The army chief war referring to the 7 May strikes codenamed Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the 22 April Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 civilians.

The strikes reportedly eliminated over 100 "terrorists" before a ceasefire on 10 May.