Congress seeks Kargil-style review of Op Sindoor after Chauhan revelations

The Congress on Wednesday, 26 August called for a structured and comprehensive review of Operation Sindoor, similar to the exercise carried out after the Kargil War, saying "headline-grabbing revelations" cannot substitute for a thorough assessment.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh made the demand a day after former chief of defence staff (CDS) Gen. Anil Chauhan spoke about operational details of the India-Pakistan conflict following the Pahalgam terror attack.

Ramesh said Chauhan had made similar disclosures in Singapore earlier and again on Tuesday, including his assertion that Indian forces did not target Pakistan's Kirana Hills, though a loitering munition may have hit the area after losing its running capacity.

In his talk on 'Operation Sindoor and its Aftermath', Chauhan also said a large number of loitering munitions had been sent towards Sargodha and one of them might have come down and hit a hill.

Ramesh said such disclosures should not take the place of a formal review of the operation. "Headline-grabbing revelations being made from time to time in interviews and lectures, whether part of a deliberate strategy or not, are no substitute for a structured and comprehensive review exercise like what the Subrahmanyam Committee had carried out," he said.

Ramesh recalled that four days after the Kargil War ended, the Vajpayee government had, on 29 July 1999, set up the Kargil Review Committee under the chairmanship of K. Subrahmanyam, whose report was tabled in Parliament on 23 February 2000.

"The-then CDS Gen. Anil Chauhan had made some very significant revelations on Operation Sindoor" in a media interview in Singapore on 30 May 2025, Ramesh said, adding that Chauhan's latest remarks had raised "understandable concern".

Ramesh also referred to claims about a 29 April meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Pahalgam attack, at which Modi allegedly told the forces that India would not tolerate cross-border terrorism and that Pakistan should be taught "a big lesson" through an "unthinkable" action. He also claimed Modi had asked the forces to ensure there was no failure and that evidence should be preserved.

Chauhan, meanwhile, backed Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, who was then director-general of air operations (DGAO) of the Indian Air Force and had said at a media briefing on 12 May last year, "We have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there."

India launched Operation Sindoor in May 2025, striking nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation for the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack. More than 100 terrorists were killed, according to India.

The strikes also hit an airbase at Sargodha, amid reports that the base was linked to an underground nuclear storage facility in the Kirana Hills area.

With PTI inputs