India has Faced Three Enemies in 'Operation Sindoor': Army officer

Deputy Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh on Friday inferred that the Indian military had fought not only Pakistan but two other invisible enemies during last month's Operation Sindoor. He was referring to the tacit military support Islamabad received from China and Turkey, which had supplied weapons to the cash-strapped nation.

Addressing an event in the national capital, the top army general pointed out that an overwhelming 81 per cent of the Pakistan military's weaponry and other combat and defence hardware had been procured from China, one of India's most formidable regional rivals and Islamabad's closest strategic ally.

Responding to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people - mostly tourists - perished, India destroyed nine terrorist bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan reacted angrily, as it attacked Indian military positions and civilian areas with barrages of drones and other projectiles. The Indian military later attacked air force bases deep inside Pakistan, forcing its DGMO to request a cessation of hostilities from his Indian counterpart.

Elaborating on China's role in the four-day India-Pakistan conflict, the army officer said that China used the hostilities as an opportunity to gauge the capacity and capabilities of its weapons. He further said China had used the conflict as a lab to test the efficacy of its weapons against those manufactured by other countries.

"Air defence and how it panned out during the entire operation was important...This time, our population centres were not quite addressed, but next time, we need to be prepared for that... We had one border and two adversaries, actually three. Pakistan was in the front. China was providing all possible support. 81% of the military hardware with Pakistan is Chinese... China is able to test its weapons against other weapons, so it's like a live lab available to them. Turkey also played an important role in providing the type of support it did... When DGMO-level talks were on, Pakistan had the live updates of our important vectors from China...We need a robust air defence system," he said.

China regularly supplies arms and ammunition, and fighter jets to Pakistan. Between 2020 and 2024, nearly two-thirds of China's military exports went to Pakistan, said a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Beijing's arms export to Pakistan between 2015 and 2025 amounted to approximately $8.2 billion.

Turkey supplied the drones used by Pakistan to attack India during Operation Sindoor. Despite China and Turkey's help, India managed to cripple Pakistan air bases, showing the capabilities of the Indian armed forces to carry out pin-point strikes on remote targets.