NEW DELHI: National security adviser Ajit Doval offered a rare glimpse into the strategic thinking behind Op Sindoor, revealing for the first time in detail how India set its objectives for the 88-hour military operation launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack and set out to destroy the terrorist infrastructure responsible for it, reports Rajshekhar Jha.Recalling the tense atmosphere following the Pahalgam massacre, Doval detailed PM Modi’s immediate reaction on cutting short his foreign visit. “At the airport itself, we had a meeting. First, he wanted to know all the facts. And then his first question to me was, who has done it,” Doval said.“We will go after them. Zameen mein ho, aasman mein ho, paatal mein ho, woh log jahan bhi hai… We will not forgive them,” Doval quoted Modi as saying.“Thanks to our intelligence agencies… they did a brilliant job and within a short period of time, we were able to identify the perpetrators and act with precision,” Ajit Doval said.The national security adviser, widely seen as one of the architects of the retaliation for the Pahalgam attack, indicated that India had made up its mind to go to any extent.“Once it starts, we are willing to go as far as necessary for a nation to preserve its sovereignty and…there are no limits on that. We fight till the last drop of blood. India’s being more tolerant should not be mistaken for its weakness,” Doval said, confirming that the terrorists who had targeted their victims on the basis of faith had breached the country’s pain threshold.
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The perpetrators had audaciously taunted the Indian leadership, daring it to retaliate. “They (Pahalgam terrorists) had told victims that ‘jaake Modi ko bol do jo kar sakta hai kar le’,” the NSA recalled.Doval said India had decided at the outset that the operation would focus on destroying enemy camps associated with the Pahalgam attack, which took place on April 22, 2025, claiming the lives of 26 innocent people.“We wanted the Pakistan Army to realise that this support to terrorism or inability to take effective action against the terrorists is something which is not tolerable to us… Basically, the world is very clear: India’s generosity or India’s being more tolerant should not be mistaken for its weakness,” he said.The NSA described Operation Sindoor as evidence of India’s growing technological and military capabilities.