India, June 21 -- Operation Sindoor is the natural progression of the 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes in Pakistan, and it was conducted in a manner that forced Islamabad to ask for a ceasefire, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday, articulating India's firm resolve to fight terrorism.

"It was executed in such a way that Pakistan requested for a ceasefire, and only then have we put a pause to the operation. As I have said earlier, Operation Sindoor is not over yet. India is fully prepared to take all kinds of action against terrorism," Singh said at an International Yoga Day function organised by the army in Udhampur.

The army's Northern Command based in Udhampur is the nerve centre of counterterrorism op...