Mumbai: Indian Navy chief designate Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan has said the country has been a victim of terrorism for several years, and asserted that it remains prepared to counter and quell any “misadventure” from across the border.
Operation Sindoor was targeted specifically at terrorists and terrorist camps that participated in a very dastardly incident in Pahalgam in 2025, said Swaminathan, the Flag Officer, Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command.
The country cannot accept terrorist activities in the country, especially when they come from foreign soil, he asserted at an event organised by the Bramha Research Foundation, a think tank, in Mumbai on Monday.
“Anybody who is sensible in the world knows the misadventure does not come anywhere or anytime from India. India has always been in a responding kind of mode. The misadventure comes from across the border. People can say what they want, but as far as we are concerned, India will remain prepared and if any misadventure comes from that side we are actually ready to quell it,” Swaminathan said.
He was responding to reports of remarks made by Field Marshal Asim Munir, also the Chief of Defence Forces of Pakistan, that any future misadventure against Islamabad will result in extremely widespread and dangerous, far-reaching and painful consequences for New Delhi.
In response to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 persons, mostly tourists, were gunned down, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, carrying out airstrikes on nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, eliminating at least 100 terrorists.
Swaminathan said Operation Sindoor is important to make sure India does not continue to be a victim of terrorism. It also reminds about what needs to be done to make the country stronger. As far as the Indian office is concerned, Operation Sindoor is ongoing, he maintained.
“So we continue to be prepared for whatever challenges anybody might throw at us, and we continue to negotiate terrorism from a position of strength,” the Navy chief designate asserted.
The global security environment is undergoing profound change. Supply chains are increasingly weaponised, access to critical technologies is contested, and geopolitical competition is reshaping the strategic landscape across all regions and all domains, he pointed out.
“Nations that depend excessively on external suppliers, for defence preparedness, expose themselves, not only to economic vulnerability, but also to strategic uncertainty,” Swaminathan said.
Stressing that nearly 95 per cent of India’s trade by volume and roughly 70 per cent by value continues to transit on the seas, he said the country’s energy security, oil, batteries, the energy that fuels its cities, etc, comes by ships.
India’s competitiveness depends on safety lanes, he emphasised.
“The Indian Ocean is, and has always been, India’s arena. Today, the Indo-Pacific emerges as a defining theatre of 21st-century geopolitics. The Indian Ocean is becoming even more contested, more watched, and more consequential. The Indian Navy is the guardian of this domain,” Swaminathan said.
The Indian Navy is not a peacetime ceremonial force but an operational navy deployed continuously across the vast and complex maritime theatre, he stressed.
To fulfil its mandate, the navy must be equipped, armed, maintained and sustained with systems and platforms that are designed, developed and built in India, he said, emphasising self-reliance.
Vice Admiral Swaminathan was appointed India’s next Chief of the Naval Staff on May 9. He succeeds Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, who retires from service on May 31.
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