India’s deputy chief of army staff (capability development and sustenance), Lt Gen Rahul R. Singh, on Friday said China fed live operational data to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, revealing a critical gap in India’s defences that must be closed fast.

Speaking at a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) event, he said: “When the DGMO level talks were going on, Pakistan was getting live inputs of our deployment from China. So that is one place we really need to move fast and take appropriate action….In the last five years, 81 per cent of the military hardware with Pakistan is Chinese.”

Lt Gen Singh said that India was fighting three adversaries during Operation Sindoor, "We had one border and two adversaries, actually three. Pakistan was in the front. China was providing all possible support. 81 per cent of the military hardware with Pakistan is Chinese... China is able to test its weapons against other weapons, so it's like a live lab available to them.

Singh said China’s help allowed Pakistan to track India‘s movements in real time changed the shape of the operation and revealed a critical gap in India’s defences that must be closed fast.

Singh pointed out that Turkey’s involvement gave Pakistan advanced drones. “Turkey also played an important role in providing the type of support it did; they gave Bayraktar and numerous other drones,” he said.

Earlier, The Telegraph Online reported both Turkey and China were keen to stymie India’s attempts at escalation. At the lower tier of warfare, both Beijing and Ankara knew that Islamabad had the upper hand over India. If, on the other hand, the Indians could scale up their attacks against Pakistan by climbing the escalation ladder, India’s inherent strengths would be impossible to ignore.

So, by complicating Indian efforts to escalate, while offering a path to peace, countries like Turkey effectively used the war to enhance their own status in the post-American world order.

He added that India must always stay a step ahead on the “escalation ladder”.

“When we reach a military objective, we should try and put a stop to it... War is easy to initiate, but it’s very difficult to control. So I would say that was a very masterly stroke that was played to stop the war at an appropriate time,” he said.

The ceasefire that followed, Singh noted, came when “Punch was ready, Pakistan realised it could be in a bad condition, that is the reason why they asked for a ceasefire.”

Singh made it clear that India’s strategy has changed.

“There would be punitive action if required. There is no scope of absorbing pain, the way we did a few years ago. That is one important message that stands out loud and clear,” he said.