Doval rejects Pak claims on Op Sindoor: Not one photo of any damage inside India

Referring to Operation Sindoor — India’s military response on May 7 to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack — the NSA said, “We decided to have nine terrorist targets in the crisscross of Pakistan; it was not only border areas. We missed none. We hit nowhere except that. It was precise to the point where we knew who is where. The entire operation took 23 minutes. It started at 5 minutes past 1 and was over at 28 minutes past 1.”

“Thereafter, a lot of things were said… in the foreign press… said Pakistan did that… you tell me, one photograph, one imagery… which shows any Indian damage being done, even a glass pane having been broken,” he said, referring to claims made by the Pakistan military of inflicting damage.

Stating that he was proud of Operation Sindoor, which was “driven by indigenous content”, the NSA said, “We have to develop our indigenous technology. Mention was made here of Sindoor. We are really proud of it, not necessarily for what people perceive… We are proud of it, that some of the best systems worked, whether it was the BrahMos missile, whether it was our Integrated Air Command and Control System.”

Pointing to the need for indigenous technology, Doval referred to Chinese incursions in eastern Ladakh and said: “You know, something happened in 2020. It was a slightly bad experience for us… But certain decisions were taken, and one of the decisions we had taken is that we are going to completely indigenise our communication systems, and 5G will not be imported from anywhere. It is necessary for our data protection, for our communications, it is necessary for security… we could not afford to lose the technology battle and remain behind.”

“The Chinese took 12 years and spent about 300 billion dollars for developing 5G. We neither had that much time nor that sort of money. Who did we turn to? That is why I said I owe a lot to (IIT Madras Director) Professor V Kamakoti. We wanted trusted sources. We wanted a system along with the private sector to work out,” the NSA said.

“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. All contributed a lot,” he said.

Stating that Prof Kamakoti has put a system in place, Doval said, “Today it ensures… that even a screw that deals with anything which leads to the nation’s security protection, data protection… it comes from a trusted source. It is either made in India or it is something made by somebody who is very close to India.”

At the beginning of his address, Doval said he was initially reluctant to attend the convocation. “When Director Kamakoti asked me to be here, obviously I was reluctant. I never make public appearances. Normally, I never go. I had a very small message to make, and I thought I will take this opportunity to convey a very small message,” he said.

Referring to artificial intelligence as a “great gamechanger”, he pointed to its diverse applications in research and development, defence, robotics, and the medical field. “That is one area we have to develop. Another is quantum computing and its applications,” Doval said.