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India hit 9 targets in Pak, but no sign of damage here: NSA Ajit Doval
India launched Operation Sindoor on nine terror targets in Pakistan and PoK on May 7, in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack
Chennai: India targeted nine terror targets in Pakistan with precision under Operation Sindoor and did not miss even a single one of them, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval said on Friday, adding that the entire operation lasted only 23 minutes.
Speaking at the 62nd convocation at IIT-Madras in Chennai, he also dared the foreign media to show at least one image of damage on the Indian side and took pride in India’s capability and technological abilities in neutralising the threats from across the border.
“Foreign press said that Pakistan did this and that,” he said, naming The New York Times. “They wrote these things. The images only showed 13 air bases in Pakistan before and after May 10, whether it was in Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan, Chaklala…You show me one photograph, one image, which shows any damage to the Indian side, even a glass pane having been broken, he added.”
In a possible reference to international media coverage, the NSA said, “They wrote what they wanted. But satellite images tell the real story—that 13 Pakistan airbases, before and after May 10, show exactly what happened.”
India launched Operation Sindoor on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on May 7, in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 persons, mostly tourists, were killed. The operation continued till May 10 when the two countries reached an understanding on stopping all military action.
Doval also said the link between technology and warfare was very important, and that the country should develop indigenous technology to meet its requirements. He stressed on the need to develop indigenous technology such as the BrahMos and that he was proud for having used it for operation Sindoor.
“We are really proud of how much of indigenous content was there,” he said. “We decided to have nine terrorist targets in the criss-cross of Pakistan, it was not in the border areas. We missed none. No unintended site was struck and strikes were precise to the point where we knew who was where. Entire operation took 23 minutes.”
Doval also spoke on artificial intelligence and 5G. “The Chinese took 12 years and spent about 300 billion dollars developing 5G,” the NSA said.
“We neither had that much time nor that sort of money,” he said, adding that they turned to IIT-M’s director V Kamakoti and funded their 5G testbed. “We wanted trusted sources. We wanted a system along with the private sector to work out. Within about two and a half years, India was totally indigenous, and today’s 5G, there is nothing foreign in that. We owe it to your IIT, to our private sector, to others.”
Earlier, speaking at the convocation, Indian dancer and Padma awardee Padma Subrahmanyam said the historic victory of Operation Sindoor was a manifestation of adherence to the valour that the Bhagavad Gita preaches. “As a proud Indian, I have always offered my salutations to our jawans, who are our national guardian angels,” she said, congratulating Doval for his role in the operation.
A total of 3,227 students graduated during the 62nd Convocation. In the current year, IIT-M incubated more than 100 deep-tech start-ups for the first time in one financial year (2024-25) and filed more than 400 patents, exceeding the vision of ‘One Patent a Day’ set out by the institute’s director Kamakoti.
