India, Aug. 10 -- Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Upendra Dwivedi on Saturday detailed a timeline of how India planned a retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, revealing that the armed forces were given a "free hand" the very next day.

The Army chief said that a meeting was convened on April 23, and that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said "enough is enough".

"All three chiefs were very clear that something had to be done. The free hand was given, 'you decide what is to be done.' That is the kind of confidence, political direction and political clarity we saw for the first time..." the Army chief said.

The top Army official was talking about the launch of Operation Sindoor, the military move against terrorist infrastructure in...