# Pakistan could not prove strikes hit targets after Operation Sindoor, says ex-CDS 2026-08-25T15:55:14+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has said Pakistan failed to obtain evidence that its strikes hit targets during Operation Sindoor, despite trying to access commercial satellite imagery, including from Chinese companies. Speaking at the VIMARSH event at the Vivekananda International Foundation, he said Pakistan was 'blind' about the results of its strikes and spent days from May 10 to 12 trying to buy satellite images to assess damage. General Chauhan explained that commercial satellite imagery is available to anyone from US and Chinese companies, but access depends on contracts, payments and waiting periods. He said Pakistan tried other Chinese satellites after its initial attempts failed, but could not establish that any target was hit. The absence of evidence, he added, led to speculation inside Pakistan that information may have been withheld from it. Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7, 2025, after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, 2025, in which 26 people were killed. India said the operation targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both Economic Times and India Today ran straight, attribution-heavy reports on General Chauhan's remarks, neither adding its own framing or sourcing beyond ANI. The story itself is a claim by a former Indian military chief about Pakistan's post-strike intelligence failure. Neither outlet challenges or corroborates the claim, and neither seeks a Pakistani response. The reporting is effectively a relay of one side's account, which readers should weigh accordingly. Any independent verification would require commercial satellite evidence or official Pakistani comment, neither of which is in the public record yet. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - economictimes.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Straight wire-style relay of ANI report with no added framing or commentary. - indiatoday.in (neutral report) Straight wire-style relay of ANI report with no added framing or commentary. This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-25T19:23:18+00:00. Tags: Anil Chauhan, Operation Sindoor, Pakistan, Vivekananda International Foundation Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/pakistan-failed-to-get-target-evidence-via-chinese-satellites-ex-cds/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/pakistan-failed-to-get-target-evidence-via-chinese-satellites-ex-cds/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/