General Chauhan also addressed former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that the United States had stopped the two nations from entering a nuclear war, calling it “far-fetched”.“I personally feel that there is a lot of space between conduct of conventional operations and the nuclear threshold,” Chauhan said.During his talk, the CDS also spoke regarding nuclear threats, stating that he viewed the military as the most rational actor, and asserted that escalation to nuclear conflict in a non-declared war is illogical.He clarified that the channels of communication with Pakistan “were always open” to help control the situation. He also noted that there were “more sub-ladders which can be exploited for settling out our issues” without the need to resort to nuclear weapons.General Chauhan delivered a talk on wars and future warfare at the Shangri-La Dialogue. Among various issues, he mentioned that during Operation Sindoor, Pakistan may have leveraged Chinese imagery, while speaking about space and satellite intelligence.“While we rely on our own satellite resources, Pakistan may have leveraged Chinese or Western commercial imagery. I can’t confirm whether real-time targeting data was provided to them, but it’s plausible they sought help from their allies,” he said.The CDS also highlighted the issue of disinformation, noting that 15 per cent of their time during operations was spent countering fake narratives, underlining the need for a dedicated information warfare vertical.Arguing that India’s approach to narrative control should be based on verified facts and evidence, even if it means a slower public response, he added, “Combating fake news was a constant effort. Our communication strategy was deliberate; we chose to be measured, not reactive because misinformation can quickly distort public perception during high-stakes operations. India has always built its narratives on solid ground, even if we’ve sometimes been slow to present them.”
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