Newly declassified accounts of Operation Sindoor have shed light on the extraordinary secrecy, planning and preparation that went into India's retaliatory military strikes following the Pahalgam terror attack. Indian military leadership had anticipated that Pakistan would respond heavily once terrorist targets were neutralised and ensured that every possible retaliation scenario was war-gamed in advance.
The operation was planned with the understanding that the initial strikes would not mark the end of the military action. Instead, Indian forces prepared for what could follow, including a strong Pakistani response.
Colonel Ashish Upreti, Director of Strategic Communication, said Pakistan had developed a sophisticated approach to information warfare, describing its dissemination of misinformation as taking place on an "industrial scale".
"Denial, distortion and fabrication of facts is something they have honed over a period of time," Upreti said.
To counter this, the Indian military sought to ensure that the strikes could be independently demonstrated through real-time visual evidence. Colonel Ashish said the idea was to release visual imagery of the strikes as they happened, leaving little room for Pakistan to build a competing narrative around what had occurred.
Strike date decided at the highest level
The decision on when to launch the strikes was taken by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on May 1. The date selected was May 7, with the operation scheduled to begin between 1 am and 2 am.
The timing was kept under exceptionally tight wraps. The information was not transmitted through digital or telephone communication. Instead, the date was conveyed through a small paper chit, reflecting the extraordinary level of secrecy maintained around the operation.
Even within the military establishment, knowledge of the exact timing was tightly restricted.
By May 6, it had become clear to the operational leadership that the targets would be hit at night. However, knowledge of the precise night of the operation was restricted to a very small circle. The Directorate itself was not aware of when the strikes would take place, with only the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) knowing the exact timing before subsequently informing the personnel involved.
The secrecy extended even to the families of India's top military leadership. Air Chief Marshal A P Singh recalled that he had planned to leave Delhi on the evening of the operation, with those around him believing he was travelling to Baroda.
He boarded an aircraft and carried out a local sortie, giving the impression that he was leaving Delhi, before returning to the national capital. The manoeuvre was undertaken to maintain secrecy around the operation and ensure that its success was not compromised.
Once the operation began, the military leadership was able to monitor the strikes live. Multiple screens carried live feeds, allowing senior commanders to watch the targets as they were struck.
Why India chose the night for the strikes
The decision to conduct the strikes during the night was driven largely by the need to preserve the element of surprise and maximise the chances of hitting the intended targets.
Military planners also had to account for the movements of terrorists at the targeted locations. During the day, potential targets could be away from the camps or engaged in training and other activities, making their presence less predictable.
The night window therefore offered an opportunity to strike when the presence and movements of the intended targets could be assessed with greater confidence.
The military's preparation did not stop with identifying and striking the targets. The possibility of retaliation from Pakistan had been factored into the planning from the outset. Every conceivable response was war-gamed so that Indian forces would be prepared for escalation immediately after the strikes.
Why it was called Operation Sindoor
The declassified accounts have also revealed the story behind the name of India's retaliatory operation.
The Army had initially proposed the name "Operation Tulip Garden", a reference to the Kashmir Valley and the location of the April 22, 2026, Pahalgam terror attack. However, when Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi told Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the proposed name, Modi suggested an alternative: "Operation Sindoor".
Dwivedi initially assumed the name could have been connected to the Indus Water Treaty, one of the measures India had taken following the Pahalgam attack. Modi clarified that the name was instead meant to evoke the sindoor of women whose husbands had been killed in the terror attack.
"Operation Sindoor isliye kyunki unhone humare mahila ke maan ka sindoor ujada hai toh hume uska badla lena hai," Modi said, according to the declassified account.
The name was subsequently adopted by the Army, Navy and Air Force, giving the operation a common identity across all three services.
The revelations provide a picture of an operation that was built not only around the physical destruction of terrorist targets but also around anticipating the military and information warfare that could follow. From war-gaming Pakistan's response and protecting the strike date to preparing real-time imagery to counter misinformation, Indian military planners sought to ensure that the operation retained both the element of surprise and control over the narrative surrounding the strikes.
