Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi invoked the promotion of Pakistan General Asim Munir to the rank of Field Marshal back in May to mock the border nation’s narrative control of Operation Sindoor.
Pakistan’s Syed Asim Munir was promoted to the rank of field marshal in May(AFP)
During an address on August 4, General Dwivedi said a Pakistani measures the result of the India-Pak conflict by Munir’s promotion to the Field Marshal rank.
“Narrative management system is something which we realise in a big way. Victory is in mind…it’s always in mind…you ask a Pakistani whether you lost or won, he will say my chief has become field marshal so we must have won only,” General Dwivedi said, highlighting how a population is influenced, and taking a subtle jab at Pakistan’s claim to victory after Operation Sindoor.
“This is how you can influence the population…it is the domestic population, adversaries population and the neutral population… can rising powers be accomadated, that’s the question you have to ask and you will get the answer yourself,” the Army chief said, adding that India made in-roads to take control of the narrative management system through use of social media.
“The strategic messaging was very important, so the first messaging we did ‘Justice done: Op Sindoor’, that hit the maximum, I am told, in the world today, the number of hits which it received,” the Army chief added.
Asim Munir’s promotion was announced by the Pakistan Prime Minister’s office, which had said that the development was because he ensured “the security of the country and defeated the enemy”.
India has always asserted that Pakistan reached out for the cessation of hostilities because of the huge blow it was dealt under Operation Sindoor. “Claiming victory is an old habit. They did the same in 1971, 1975 and 1999 Kargil War as well,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said back in May, days after India and Pakistan agreed to a truce.
Most recently, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh said that India had inflicted such damage to Pakistan’s air defence systems that the border nation realised it would be at a bigger loss if the conflict continued.
“In 80 to 90 hours of war, we were able to achieve so much of damage to air system that it was clear to them that if they continue, they are going to pay for it more and more,” the Air Chief Marshal said on Saturday. He also made a big revelation, saying India downed five of Pakistan’s fighter jets.