'Best time would have been 6 am': Why India carried out Operation Sindoor at midnight - CDS General Anil Chauhan reveals

NEW DELHI: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Thursday revealed why armed forces decided to carry out Operation Sindoor strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir at night.

Speaking at an event in Ranchi, Gen Chauhan said the strike, carried out on May 7, was deliberately executed in the dead of night. "On the 7th (of May), the terrorist targets we had chosen, we struck them between 1.00 and 1.30 at night… Why did we strike at 1.30 at night? That is the darkest time, it would be the most difficult to get satellite images, photographs, and collect evidence. Yet, we struck at 1 or 1.30 at night,” he said.

Gen Chauhan underlined two key reasons for the decision. First, he said, the armed forces had full confidence in their capabilities, including the ability to capture imagery and assess damage even at night. The second, and more crucial reason, he explained, was to avoid harming civilians.

"First, we had confidence in our capabilities that even at night we would be able to get imagery. And the second important reason was that we wanted to avoid civilian casualties," he said.

"The best time would have been 5.30–6.00 am, but at that time, the first azaan or the first prayer takes place, and in Bahawalpur and Muridke, there might have be a lot of civilian movement at that time, so many civilians could have been killed ... We wanted to avoid that, which is why we chose the time between 1.00 and 1.30," he said.


The CDS’s remarks provide a rare inside view of the strategic and ethical considerations behind such high-risk counter-terror operations, where military precision must be balanced with humanitarian concerns.

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