Gen Ghai, face of army during Op Sindoor, promoted as dy chief of army staff
NEW DELHI: Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, the face of the Indian Army during Operation Sindoor, has been promoted as the deputy chief of army staff (strategy) and will continue to hold the appointment of director general military operations (DGMO), officials aware of the matter said on Monday.
Ghai was among the top officials who briefed the media after the four-day military clash with Pakistan under Operation Sindoor — India's strikes on terror and military installations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were shot dead.
The verticals that will fall under his purview in the new role include military operations, military intelligence, strategic planning, and information warfare, the officials said, asking not to be named. Last week, President Droupadi Murmu awarded Ghai the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal for distinguished service during conflict, a recognition of his work as the commander of Srinagar-based HQ 15 Corps.
Ghai, along with his air force and navy counterparts, briefed the media twice, on May 11 and 12.
The understanding between India and Pakistan to cease military hostilities was announced on the evening of May 10 after Ghai and his Pakistani counterpart, Major General Kashif Abdullah, spoke over the hotline and agreed to stop all military actions against each other on land, in the air, and at sea.
The two DGMOs spoke again on May 12 to uphold the truce. The confidence-building measures then discussed included continuing the May 10 commitment that both sides 'must not fire a single shot' or initiate any aggressive action against each other, and consider troop reduction in forward areas.
Between the launch of the operation in the early hours of May 7 and the ceasefire on the evening of May 10, Indian forces bombed nine terror camps in Pakistan and PoK and killed at least 100 terrorists. The Indian Air Force struck targets at 13 Pakistani air bases and military installations.
Last week, it emerged that India's targeting of locations within Pakistan during the May 7-10 clash was more extensive than was previously known, with a Pakistani document acknowledging that Indian drones had struck locations ranging from Peshawar in the northwest to Hyderabad in the south.
Pakistan's Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos, which was mounted in response to Operation Sindoor, 'folded in eight hours' on May 10, belying Islamabad's ambitious target of bringing India to its knees in 48 hours, chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan said on June 3.
In the May 11 briefing, Ghai said Indian forces had exercised immense restraint and their actions were 'focused, measured and non-escalatory,' but any threat to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or safety of the country's citizens will be met with decisive force.
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