Pakistan had to call for ‘ceasefire’ due to threat of aggressive naval action: Vice Admiral Swaminathan on Operation Sindoor

Vice Admiral K Swaminathan on Tuesday, 2 December, said that the threat of aggressive action by the Indian Navy during Operation Sindoor was one of the major factors leading to Pakistan requesting a “ceasefire”.

India had launched Operation Sindoor in May, targeting terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and PoK, in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack that had claimed 26 lives in April.

Addressing the media ahead of Navy Day, Vice Admiral Swaminathan, chief of the vital Western Naval Command, said Operation Sindoor saw an unprecedented mobilization of over 30 ships and submarines within a very short period of time.

He said any navy in the world having 30 ships in operation, which can be loaded and put out at short notice of four, five or six days, is a big deal.

He said, “Our frontline ships were ready for war off the Makran coast under the umbrella of Vikrant Carrier Battle Group.”

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The Indian Navy’s aggressive deployment and posture included a series of successful weapon firings in April, he said, and this “forced the Pakistan Navy to remain close to its coast”.

Vice Admiral Swaminathan said, “In fact, the threat of aggressive action by the Indian Navy can be considered as one of the important factors in Pakistan requesting the ceasefire.”

Elaborating, he said that the Navy is ready for attack. Had the Navy attacked, the increase would have been much greater than what was observed.

“We came very close to being attacked. We landed some planes and the air force carried out cross-border strikes and they attacked,” he said.

The vice admiral said, “If there was going to be further escalation we would have moved in. We believe they sensed the Navy was moving and so they asked for a ceasefire.”

“We think the Navy played an important role in maintaining control of tensions and posing a threat to them. And because we posed a threat to them, we think they asked for a ceasefire,” he said.

Speaking about the Turkish naval ship in Pakistani waters during Operation Sindoor, Swaminathan said India always expected that there would definitely be some collusion between China and Pakistan, and Turkey could be the spoiler.

He said, “We always expected there would be some collusion. We just had to see how well that collusion would turn out in the form of hardware transfers, even while the operation was ongoing.”

The Vice Admiral said that the visit of the Turkish Navy ship to Pakistan was pre-planned.

“The fact is that Turkey colluded with Pakistan, which we expected and we saw happen,” he said.

He said the main thing about Operation Sindoor was that there was “very, very good political-military coordination” at the highest level.

There was also coordination among the armed forces and the three services knew exactly what the other was doing, he said.

India and Pakistan reached an agreement on May 10 to stop all firing and military actions on land, air and sea with immediate effect after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile attacks, bringing the two countries to the brink of full-scale war.