China Used Pakistan As "Live Lab" During Operation Sindoor, Says Indian Army Deputy Chief

The Indian Army's Deputy Chief, Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh, on Friday described Pakistan as a "live lab" for China, which uses its ally to test weapons and gather intelligence against India. Speaking at an event organised by the industry body FICCI, Lt Gen Singh said that Operation Sindoor showed how China backs Pakistan to hurt India.

"China has been able to test its weapons against various other weapon systems that are there. It's like a live lab which is available to it,” he said, noting that 81 percent of Pakistan's military equipment comes from China, according to Hindustan Times 

According to the report, the Army officer said that India faces not two, but three adversaries on its borders. “One border, two adversaries,” he said, referring to Pakistan and China, before adding, “actually, three!”. He named Turkey as the third adversary for supplying military drones to Pakistan.

According to Lt Gen Singh, China prefers to use Pakistan to challenge India rather than engaging in a direct fight, reported PTI . He said that China follows a strategy of "kill by a borrowed knife," using Pakistan to "inflict pain" on India. He also revealed that during the conflict, China provided real-time intelligence to Pakistan about India’s military movements

“Even when the DGMO-level talks were going on, Pakistan was mentioning, ‘We know that your such-and-such vector is primed and ready for action,’” he said, adding that these were "live inputs that [Pakistan] was getting from China." quoted PTI 

Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7 against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The action came after a terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22 that killed 26 civilians.

Pakistan retaliated with missile and drone strikes, but Indian air defence systems successfully intercepted most of them. A ceasefire was later agreed upon after talks between the military commanders of both nations.