Ex-CDS Anil Chauhan Hints Pakistan May Have Leaked Operation Sindoor Ceasefire Details to US

Former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has questioned how the United States came to know about the India-Pakistan ceasefire during Operation Sindoor before the development was officially announced by India. Speaking about the events surrounding the May 2025 military confrontation, Chauhan said the ceasefire was reached through direct communication between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan. According to him, there was no third-party involvement in the actual military understanding that led to the halt in hostilities.

Chauhan also raised questions about how Washington obtained information about the ceasefire so quickly. He indicated that the information did not originate from the Indian side and suggested that Pakistan could have been the source. However, he did not provide evidence confirming that Islamabad had shared the information with the United States.

The remarks are significant because the United States had publicly claimed a role in bringing the India-Pakistan conflict to an end. US President Donald Trump had said that American diplomatic efforts helped convince the two countries to agree to a ceasefire on May 10, 2025. India has consistently maintained that the cessation of military action was agreed through direct military-to-military communication between the two sides. Chauhan's comments reinforce that position and add a new question about how the United States learned about the agreement before India's formal announcement.

Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7, 2025, following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. Indian forces targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The confrontation subsequently escalated, with both countries carrying out military strikes before agreeing to stop hostilities on May 10.

The timing of the ceasefire information has become an important part of the broader debate surrounding the conflict. During an active military confrontation, advance knowledge of a ceasefire can have considerable diplomatic and operational significance. Chauhan's comments do not establish that Pakistan definitely leaked the information to Washington. Instead, they raise the possibility that the information may have travelled from the Pakistani side while ruling out an Indian leak, according to his account.

The former CDS has recently provided several details about Operation Sindoor and the military decisions taken during the confrontation. His latest remarks are likely to add further debate over the events that unfolded in the final hours before the ceasefire and the role played by different countries during the crisis. The exact source of the information that reached Washington before India's announcement remains unclear.