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Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday said that there were no talks between the Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan about nuclear warfare.
Responding to a query raised during a press conference here, he said that the nuclear rhetoric was given by the political or local public in Pakistan instead of the military. "As far as nuclear rhetoric is concerned, I would like to say that there was no discussion on nuclear in the DGMO talks, and whatever nuclear rhetoric was given by the politicians or given by the local public in Pakistan. I have no indication that anything of that sort came from the military," General Dwivedi told ANI. He was responding to a query about whether Pakistan issued any nuclear threats during the 2025 conflict with India. The Army Chief said that India expanded the conventional space to carry out ground operations while dismissing the understanding of directly moving from sub-conventional warfare to the nuclear domain. "When we talk about our role in this, and when we discuss what was said earlier, it was stated that the space for conventional operations is shrinking, and that we would go directly from sub-conventional to the nuclear domain. But this time, the action we took, especially the kind of firing that took place in Jammu and Kashmir, and the way we addressed it, and how we eliminated approximately 100 of their (Pakistan) personnel - all that action was taken because we expanded the conventional space," he said. In those 88 hours, you saw that the army's mobilisation to expand the conventional space was such that if Pakistan made any mistake, we were fully prepared to launch ground operations," he added. General Dwivedi further informed that 100 people out of the 150 people associated with Pakistan were killed in the firing along the Line of Control (LoC) or in the International Border of the Jammu and Kashmir sector. "I remember, around August 13 or 14, they (Pakistan) mistakenly released a list of about 150 people, which we analysed, and then they withdrew it. Of those, about 100 people, according to our assessment, had been killed in the firing along the Line of Control or in the IB J&K sector. As far as the force structure is concerned, I would only like to tell you that drones were already playing an important role, but after Operation Sindoor, this aspect received a major acceleration. We were already monitoring this organisation," he said. The Army Chief said that the drones were already playing an important role, but received major acceleration after Op Sindoor, with the establishment of organisations comprising skilled operators. "We had validated this in desert terrain, high-altitude terrain. But because the operation was ongoing, we had to commission it in a hurry and as quickly as possible. Keeping this in mind, what action did we take? If we start with the infantry battalion, if you want to use drones actively, for surveillance, for force application, for anti-radiation, for jamming, for loitering munitions, we need highly skilled operators, and for that, we need integration," General Dwivedi said. "The first organisation we established was an infantry battalion, within which we created the Ashni Platoon, comprising specialists who must achieve a certain level of qualification to join. Similarly, we have established the Bhairav Light Commando Battalion, and as of today, we have raised 13 Bhairav battalions," he stated. The Army Chief added that the Bhairav battalions are meant to bridge the gap between lethal platoons and special forces within infantry battalions. "The role of these Bhairav battalion is to bridge the gap between the lethal platoons and the special forces within the infantry battalions. They are equipped with modern equipment, including UAS equipment and counter-UAS equipment, a large amount of ammunition, and other equipment, to play a crucial role," he said. "Moving on to artillery, we have created a Divyastra battery. The Divyastra battery will be part of the artillery regiment and will provide support to a division commander. Again, this involves UAS equipment. For counter-UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) ammunition, we have our powerful regiment, which we are currently raising three units of, and will later raise 12 more. We will then expand this further," he added. (ANI)
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