Operation Sindoor: Ex-CDS Anil Chauhan reveals why India planned to strike Skardu airbase but switched targets

India had identified Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Skardu airbase as a potential target during Operation Sindoor but eventually shifted to another military installation after bad weather disrupted the planned strike, former chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan has said.

Chauhan, who was serving as CDS when the operation was conducted, disclosed the details while speaking at the Vivekananda International Foundation on Operation Sindoor and its aftermath.

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Recounting the sequence of events, Chauhan said Pakistan had sought talks at around 10 am when the Indian Air Force was preparing for further strikes.

“Once the Pakistanis had picked up the phone and said they wanted to talk at about 10 AM. The Air Chief asked me whether he should strike Sargodha, I said, Go ahead… I said, could you please identify two more targets, so one of the targets he identified was Skardu.”

India approved Skardu as a target, but weather conditions forced the military to alter the plan, Chauhan said.

“We gave a yes, but after some time, the weather was bad over it and they had to change over to Bholari,” he added.

Why Kirana Hills was not a target

Chauhan also addressed speculation over whether India had deliberately targeted Kirana Hills in Pakistan’s Punjab province, an area associated with the country’s nuclear infrastructure.

He said India had not deliberately targeted Kirana Hills, backing comments made by Air Marshal AK Bharti, then Director General of Air Operations, during a May 12 press briefing.

Bharti had said, “We have not hit Kirana hills, whatever is there.”

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Chauhan said Bharti’s statement was accurate.

“There was a small episode about what Air Marshal Bharti was asked, the Kirana Hills episode. I think I’ll clarify this. On occasions, it’s been asked whether Kirana Hills were hit; that is where their (Pakistan’s) nuclear facilities are.”

He added that Bharti had “rightly clarified that we did not target Kirana Hills”.

According to Chauhan, the appearance of damage or smoke in the Kirana Hills area could have been linked to Indian loitering munitions operating around Sargodha.

“I can, maybe give a kind of an explanation… Before those strikes, we had sent in a lot of loitering munitions to Sargodha, and Kirana Hills is about 10 km north of Sargodha. So the loitering munition is looking for radars which are in and around Sargodha, and it has a time span, which means it will loiter for about two hours, and once it does not find a target, it comes down and hits somewhere,” the former CDS said.

He suggested that one such munition could have eventually landed in the hills.

“It must have come and hit one of those hills. So that could be one of the reasons as to what people asked… Because Pakistani media also showed some images in which there was smoke coming out from Kirana Hills.”

What happened during Operation Sindoor

India launched Operation Sindoor in May 2025 following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Indian forces struck nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, according to the government.

The operation later expanded into a broader military confrontation between India and Pakistan, during which Indian forces also struck Pakistan’s Sargodha airbase.

Chauhan said the operation should not be viewed as a concluded episode, underlining that Operation Sindoor is “still ongoing”.

(With inputs from TOI)