India, Jan. 13 -- Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday laid out the circumstances that led Pakistan to arrive at a ceasefire during Operation Sindoor last year and attributed India's success during the strike to "two turning points" in the brief combat.

While addressing the annual press conference in New Delhi, the Army chief said that the Armed forces were given complete freedom to "act or respond" during Op Sindoor. He also pointed out to "certain orders" given to the three services to prepare in case the fighting escalates.

"I think we can understand the turning point at two stage. The first turning point was the 22-minute strike that we conducted on terror targets. During that 22 minutes, the decision making cycle ...