'India's response will be massive, at time and place of its choosing': Ex-Army commander after Pahalgam

India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack will be "massive" and "comprehensive", involving the full weight of national power, former Defence Intelligence Agency chief and 15 Corps Commander Lt Gen KJS Dhillon has said. 

"The Prime Minister very clearly said that it is going to be a very heavy response," Dhillon told ThePrint. "And when we talk about response, we think about surgical strikes, Balakot air strikes — those were pure military options which were exercised. In the Uri incident, only the Army was utilised and in Balakot, the Air Force was utilised. But this time to my understanding it is going to be a whole-of-nation approach."

"It is going to be a comprehensive national power which will be applied against terrorist state called Pakistan,” he added. "It would include military options. It would include diplomatic options. So all these combined together — may it be in conjunction with each other or may it be standalone — at the time and place of own choosing."

According to Dhillon, the nature of India's retaliation could vary in form and intensity to keep Pakistan off-balance. "It may be one single action. It may be a coordinated multiple actions simultaneously. It could be a coordinated multiple action staggered in time and space. So that we keep the enemy guessing."

"Pakistan would be told in no unclear terms if you take any action in response to India's actions, the retaliation will be so heavy that it would be unacceptable to Pakistan. So that message has to go out loud and clear and we have to put an end to this nonsense once and for all."

Rejecting nuclear threat rhetoric from Pakistan, Dhillon said, "Let's not get carried away by this of nuclear threats and other things. India's response will be a comprehensive national response and application of comprehensive national power — at the time and place of own choosing — either staggered, standalone, or in conjunction with multiple options."

He stressed that this would be a mature and deliberate decision, not an emotional one. "Nations and militaries do not take action based on emotions or revengeful attitude. Nations and militaries very maturely carry out their plans and actions and don’t go by emotional outbursts. We will go in, we will go in at a time and place of our own choosing. We will decide the quantum. We will decide the quality. We will decide how deep and where all and what all options we will exercise."

The former top commander said that the military-style precision of the Pahalgam killings showed careful reconnaissance and strategic planning. "Selection of objective — away from the road, walking distance, poor connectivity, reinforcements cannot be called in time. They would have receed and realised there's no security forces presence and innocent civilians are coming there. And then they did the attack between 2:30 to 3:00 pm. They finished the killings within 20 minutes."

Dhillon said the attack "was carried out in the military headquarters of Pakistan. The whole thing was coordinated, directed and executed from military war rooms of Pakistan military and ISI."

"This is the reason Pakistan wanted to divert attention from their local problems, their domestic problems, and the only thing which binds Pakistan together is religion and Kashmir. So both these aspects are brought into this attack so that the domestic issues of Pakistan don't get so much of limelight and every Pakistani unites behind the Pakistan military to protect them," he added.

Dhillon are in line with the views of other senior military figures. Former Northern Army Commander Lt Gen (Retd) D S Hooda recently stressed the need for a calculated and strategic response. "Revenge is best served cold. I think we need to calmly think through the situation. Let's not be in any kind of haste. Pick and choose targets where we have almost 100% chance of success."

Hooda underlined that all military options remain open. "Both ground and air options are still open. We now significantly have upgraded our Air Force arsenal with the Rafales having come in. The Army is well prepared, the Air Force is well-prepared, and so is our Navy."

Former Army Chief General M M Naravane has also called for a firm yet purposeful strategy. "Each response must have a clear purpose with well-defined outcomes, the foremost being to force Pakistan to ‘credibly and irrevocably abjure its support to cross-border terrorism'," he wrote in ThePrint.

Naravane warned against symbolic actions that can’t be enforced. "Announcing a measure and then not being able to enforce it will only result in a major loss of face." Instead, he called for identifying Pakistan's "pain points" and striking where it hurts most. "These decisions are being taken by a small coterie within the Pakistani establishment, and that is where we should concentrate all our efforts."