Navy Chief-designate Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan has warned Pakistan against sponsoring terrorism, warning that the Indian armed forces were ready to quell any “misadventure”, even as he noted that the Indian Ocean region was “more contested” today than ever before.
Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, who is the present Western Naval Commander, noted that Operation Sindoor was targeted specifically at terrorists and terrorist camps that participated in a very dastardly incident in Pahalgam in 2025.
On Monday (May 11, 2026), the naval commander said India had been a “victim of terrorism” for decades and asserted that its armed forces remained prepared to counter and quell any “misadventure” from across the border.
Speaking at an event organised by the Bramha Research Foundation, a think tank, Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan said India cannot accept terrorist activities on its territory, especially when they come from foreign soil.
“Anybody sensible in the world knows the misadventure does not come anywhere or anytime from India. India has always been in a responsive kind of mode,” he said.
“The misadventure comes from across the border. People can say what they want, but as far as we are concerned, India will remain prepared, and if any misadventure comes from that side, we are actually ready to quell it,” he added.
The Navy Chief-designates remarks came in response to Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir’s comments at an event to mark the May 2025 conflict that any future military operations against Islamabad would result in extremely widespread and dangerous, far-reaching, and painful consequences for India.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, to avenge the killing of 26 civilians by a Pakistan-sponsored terror group, The Resistance Force, at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 that year.
The four-day war led to serious damage to 11 Pakistani military bases, apart from the destruction of half-a-dozen or more military aircraft and systems on the ground, apart from the obliteration of nine terror infrastructure, and elimination of 100-odd terrorists in those camps.
Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan said Operation Sindoor was needed to make sure India does not continue to be a victim of terrorism. “It also reminds about what needs to be done to make the country stronger. As far as the Indian office is concerned, Operation Sindoor is ongoing,” he said.
“So we continue to be prepared for whatever challenges anybody might throw at us, and we continue to negotiate terrorism from a position of strength,” he added.
Talking about the profound changes in the global security environment, the Navy Chief-designate said supply chains were increasingly being weaponised, access to critical technologies contested, and geopolitical competition reshaping the strategic landscape across all regions and all domains.
“Nations that depend excessively on external suppliers, for defence preparedness, expose themselves, not only to economic vulnerability, but also to strategic uncertainty,” Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan said.
Stressing that nearly 95% of India’s trade by volume and roughly 70% by value continued to flow via the seas, he said the country’s most critical needs, such as fuel, batteries, etc, arrive by ships. Hence, India’s competitiveness depended on the safety of the sea lanes of communication, he noted.
“The Indian Ocean is, and has always been, India’s arena. Today, the Indo-Pacific emerges as a defining theatre of 21st-century geopolitics. The Indian Ocean is becoming even more contested, more watched, and more consequential. The Indian Navy is the guardian of this domain,” he added.
Noting that the Indian Navy was not a peacetime ceremonial force, but an operational navy deployed continuously across the vast and complex maritime theatre, he stressed self-reliance so that the navy remained equipped, armed, maintained, and sustained with systems and platforms that are designed, developed, and built in India to fulfil its mandate.
On May 9, the Indian government appointed Vice Admiral Swaminathan to take over as the next Indian Navy chief, succeeding Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, who retires on May 31.