As Operation Sindoor entered its third day on Friday, the Central government has authorised the Chief of Army Staff to call out every officer and every enrolled person of the Territorial Army to provide for essential guard or to be embodied for the purpose of supporting or supplementing the regular army.

The orders were passed under a notification dated May 6, 2025, issued in accordance with Rule 33 of the Territorial Army Rules, 1948. A move that shows the clear indication of heighted escalations between India and Pakistan post Pahalgam terror strike that reflect on the military preparedness being undertaken by the government.

Advertisement

The directive, issued by the Ministry of Defence approves the embodiment of 14 of the existing 32 Infantry Battalions of the TA for deployment in the areas of Southern Command, Eastern Command, Western Command, Central Command, Northern Command, South Western Command, Andaman and Nicobar Command and Army Training Command (ARTRAC).

Stating that the order that shall remain in force for three years, from 10 February 2025 to 9 February 2028, has a clause that makes it subject to the availability of funds. “The embodiment shall be ordered provided the funds are available in the budget or have been made available by re-appropriation of the internal savings in the budget. For units embodied at the behest of Ministries other than the Ministry of Defence, the cost will be debited to the respective Ministries and will not be included in the budget allocation of the Ministry of Defence,” read the circular.

On the second day of the ongoing operation, the Indian Armed Forces launched a full offensive against Pakistan by targeting their Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations. Stating that the Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan, a government spokesperson said that it has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised.

Rattled by the strikes conducted under Operation Sindoor, Pakistan launched a counter offensive on multiple defence bases located in the northern and western of the country. However, the attempts were neutralized by the Indian Armed forces who engaged the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems.