Operation Sindoor: Golden Temple's Head Granthi allowed Indian Army to deploy guns to thwart Pak missile and drone attacks, claims Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D'Cunha

View of a blackout at the Golden Temple premises, during escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, in Amritsar, Punjab. (PTI Photo)

During Operation Sindoor, the management of Amritsar's Golden Temple allowed the Indian Army to deploy air defence guns within the revered shrine to counter drone and missile threats from Pakistan, Indian Army's incharge of air defence Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D'Cunha claimed.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, he claimed that the Golden Temple management realized there was possibly a threat to the shrine from projectiles fired from across the border and all the lights were switched off for the first time in history to facilitate better detection and engagement of enemy drones, which helped the Indian defence forces spot and engage enemy drones more clearly.

However, a day after the interview was aired, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Tuesday "outrightly rejected" these claims and called Lt General's statement "shockingly untrue."  Responding to his claims, SGPC President Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami said in a statement, "..while the administration contacted them only about switching off the lights during the blackout, they fully cooperated in the interest of administrative responsibility while maintaining the sanctity of the ongoing Maryada. However, there was no contact from any Army official regarding the installation of air defence guns at Sri Harmandar Sahib."

The Army also clarified on Tuesday that no air defence guns or any other air defence resource were deployed within the Golden Temple premises during Operation Sindoor. "Some media reports are circulating with respect to deployment of AD Guns in the Golden Temple. It is clarified that NO AD guns or any other AD resource was deployed within the premises of Sri Darbar Sahib Amritsar (Golden Temple)," an Army statement said.

Lt General D'Cunha said in the interview, "When it was explained to them, they allowed us to deploy guns to secure and protect the Golden Temple. The lights were switched off so that we could clearly visualize the drones as they were coming in and that gave us a greater clarity in the sky because as and when you saw the light you knew what to engage."

"It was very nice that the Head Granthi of the Golden Temple allowed us to deploy our guns. It is possibly for the first time in many years that they switched off the Golden Temple lights so that we could see the drone coming," he added.

Also Read - India has adequate arsenal of weapons, whole of Pakistan from Rawalpindi to KPK is within range: DG Army Air Defence Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D’Cunha

Talking about how the Indian Armed Forces anticipated an attack on Amritsar's most famous landmark and the heavily-populated areas around it, he informed, "We had visualised what they (Pakistan) were capable of doing. Realising that they would target it (the Golden Temple) because they had no legitimate targets across the border. They were more interested in creating confusion, chaos internally, and hence, we visualised that they would target our civil population and our religious places of worship."

He also appreciated the overwhelming support from the local population and retired servicemen who expressed their willingness to come out of retirement and serve for the country.

His remarks come in the backdrop of the ongoing Operation Sindoor, which was launched by India on May 7 to destroy terror infrastructure at nine places in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir in retaliation to the 26 people killed by The Resistance Front terrorists in J&K's Pahalgam.

Pak retaliated to the attack on terror bases on its land, but these were successfully thwarted by the Indian Armed Forces. In response, India carried out strikes at military installations in Pakistan until the early morning of May 10.

In the evening of the same day, Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) reached out to his Indian counterpart requesting no further escalation. Thereafter, an understanding was reached between the two countries to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect.

Indian Army Officers Statement About Deploying Air Defence Guns at Sri Harmandar Sahib is Shockingly Untrue Head Granthi @SGPCPresident Also States No Such Permission Was Granted, Nor Did Any Such Incident OccurSri Amritsar, May 20 Responding to the recent claim made by pic.twitter.com/B9Wfiw0Hv1
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) May 20, 2025