Chennai | August 10, 2025 : Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi has taken a pointed dig at Pakistan’s self-declared victory narrative following Operation Sindoor, stressing how “victory is in the mind” and highlighting the growing role of strategic messaging in modern warfare. Speaking at IIT Madras, he explained how Pakistan managed to convince its populace that it had won, despite the outcome of the conflict being otherwise.

“If you ask a Pakistani whether you lost or won, he’d say, ‘My chief has become Field Marshal, we must have won only.’ That’s how they shape public perception,” he said, referring to Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir’s promotion to Field Marshal after the conflict.

Gen Dwivedi underscored that the Indian armed forces countered Pakistan’s narrative with carefully planned messaging, using social media and public outreach to communicate their own version of events to domestic and international audiences. “The first messaging we put out was simple — ‘justice done’. It went global, generating the maximum hits we’ve seen,” he said.

The Army chief revealed that this narrative campaign was not incidental but a planned element of the operation. From the logo designed by a Lieutenant Colonel and an NCO, to press conferences by two women officers from the Army and Air Force, every step was aimed at shaping perceptions in India’s favour. “The narrative management system is important. It took time, effort, and coordination,” he added.

He also shed light on the operational approach of Operation Sindoor, describing it as a “grey zone” strategy, akin to a chess match where both sides make unpredictable moves. “We were not going for conventional operations. Sometimes we gave them checkmate, other times we went in for the kill, even at the risk of losing our own. That’s life in operations,” Gen Dwivedi remarked.

A key factor in the mission’s execution, he noted, was the political leadership’s decisiveness. On April 23, a day after the Pahalgam massacre — the deadliest terror attack in decades — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the armed forces’ chiefs, “Enough is enough,” and granted them complete operational freedom. “For the first time, we saw this level of confidence, political clarity, and direction. It boosted morale and empowered commanders to act on the ground as per their wisdom,” the COAS said.

Operation Sindoor was launched in response to the April 22 Pahalgam massacre, in which Pakistan-linked terrorists killed 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir. In the weeks that followed, Indian forces struck back hard, targeting nine terror sites deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. On May 7, precision aerial strikes eliminated over 100 terrorists at these camps.

The follow-up mission, Operation Mahadev, tracked down and killed three of the terrorists involved in the massacre. Gen Dwivedi’s remarks underline that, alongside military strategy, controlling the narrative is now a vital battlefield — one where perception can shape both domestic resolve and international opinion.