India, Aug. 5 -- Pakistan had requested a ceasefire on the morning of May 10 last year during Operation Sindoor, but India deliberately delayed its response as it had "not even executed half" of their planned strikes, former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan has said.

Speaking at ThePrint's Off The Cuff event, Gen Chauhan said Pakistan contacted India through the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) hotline that morning. New Delhi, however, deliberately kept Islamabad waiting till the afternoon.

"The biggest surprise to me was on 10 May, when Pakistan picked up the phone and said they wanted to talk. This was because, on 9 May, the kind of rhetoric emerging from their side was that they would sort India out in ...