On May 16, 2026, Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi lashed out, yet again, at Pakistan, while speaking at Gen Manek Shaw's Senak Samavad function at new Delhi. His diatribe was for Islamabad to decide "whether they [sic] want[s] to be part of geography or history" due to Pakistan ostensibly harbouring anti-India militants. He earlier described Operation Sindoor 1.0 (May 2025) as an '88 hours trailer' of what India could do to Pakistan. General Dwivedi's views against Pakistan are motivated by his 'uncompromising anti-terror doctrine, existential signalling, and a policy of absolute, zero-restraint military retaliation'.

The general believes in eliminating 'tactical restraint' against Pakistan. He considers Pakistan a 'Two-Front Threat' alongside China; is an ardent believer of atmanirbharta (self-reliance); normalises cross border retaliation as the 'New Normal'; advocates 'shaping the environment' (preparing) for Operation Sindoor 2.0; focuses on multi-domain readiness for war including AI, cyber capabilities and drone warfare. And most importantly, the general disavows the 'regional escalation' narrative i.e. he reckons that conventional war with Pakistan could be controlled from spiraling into a nuclear exchange.

General Dwivedi is from Indian Infantry's 18 Battalion, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Rifles; a veteran of Kashmir and Rajasthan area of operations; a graduate of the US Army Staff College; and former defence attache in Seychelles. He has commanded Assam Rifles, most importantly the 9 Corps, deployed mainly along Punjab in India's Western Command (WC). He also remained GOC Northern Command (NC), commanding 14, 15 and 16 Corps along India's borders with China and Pakistan including J&K. His forte is COIN (counterinsurgency) and tactical battles in the mountains except for........

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