Jairam Ramesh seeks Kargil-style review of Operation Sindoor after General Chauhan remarks

A day after former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan made fresh remarks on Operation Sindoor, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday (August 26, 2026) called for a comprehensive official review of the military operation on the lines of the Kargil Review Committee.

Mr. Ramesh, Congress general secretary (communications), said Gen. Chauhan’s latest remarks, coupled with his earlier revelations, had raised understandable concern and warranted a structured review of the operation.

Vital revelations

“In a media interview given in Singapore on May 30th, 2025, the-then Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan had made some very significant revelations on Operation Sindoor. Just yesterday Gen. Chauhan has again made some very important revelations that have raised understandable concern,” Mr. Ramesh said in a post on X.

He recalled that four days after the Kargil War ended, the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had, on July 29, 1999, constituted the Kargil Review Committee under the chairmanship of top security analyst K. Subrahmanyam.

The committee’s report was tabled in Parliament on February 23, 2000.

“Headline-grabbing revelations being made from time to time in interviews and lectures, whether part of a deliberate strategy or not, are no substitute for a structured and comprehensive review exercise like what the Subrahmanyam committee had carried out,” Mr. Ramesh said.

The demand came after Gen. Chauhan, speaking at the ‘VIMARSH’ event on Operation Sindoor and its aftermath at the Vivekananda International Foundation on Tuesday, said a loitering munition deployed during the operation may have struck the Kirana Hills area near Sargodha in Pakistan, where nuclear-related facilities are located.

The remarks appeared to differ from the position articulated during the operation. At a media briefing on May 12, then Director General of Air Operations Air Marshal A.K. Bharti had said that the Indian armed forces had not targeted the nuclear facility at Kirana Hills.

Gen. Chauhan also made a significant assertion on the ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan, rejecting claims that U.S. President Donald Trump had mediated the cessation of hostilities.

“The ceasefire was decided between two DGMOs, and that’s it. I don’t see the role of anyone else,” the retired officer said. He also questioned how information about the impending ceasefire reached the U.S. side before India could announce it, saying he was certain that the information had not leaked from the Indian side.

Operation Sindoor was launched by India in response to the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack. Indian forces carried out strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on May 7, followed by several days of military confrontation before the ceasefire understanding on May 10.