Oct 24, India has issued a Notice to Airmen (Oct 30-Nov 10) for a large-scale tri-services, Army-Navy-Airforce, exercise, Trishul, in the border states of Gujarat and Rajasthan, including Sir Creek. Experts note that the exercise is unusually large in scale and strategic scope.
Trishul validates joint operations, self-reliance and innovation across terrains like creeks, deserts and the Saurashtra coast. It involves the Southern Command troops along with the Army, Navy and Airforce in amphibious assaults and multi-domain manoeuvres, with airspace reserved up to 28,000 feet.
It's framed as routine but signals readiness post-Operation Sindoor.
Courtesy Damien Symon
Pakistan's reaction was a NOTAM (Oct 28–29) restricting air routes in its flanking territory. It is being viewed by some as 'panic mode' due to the Indian exercise's proximity to vulnerable areas like Sir Creek, Sindh, and Karachi, which could disrupt Pakistan's maritime trade and energy supplies if escalated. Trishul also coincides with Pakistan’s internal instabilities due to militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, making the drill a psychological and operational flex.
The drill also follows Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's Dussehra address: "If Pakistan dares to act in the Sir Creek sector, the reply will be so strong that it will change both history and geography." Intelligence shows Pakistan is bolstering infrastructure there amid its internal militant threats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Sir Creek is a 96 km tidal estuary located in the uninhabited marshlands along the India-Pakistan border in Gujarat. The creek flows into the Arabian Sea, separating India’s Gujarat state from Pakistan’s Sindh province. Pakistan claims the entire creek belongs to Sindh whereas India contends the boundary lies along the middle of the navigable channel. Sir Creek holds great economic importance too. The region is believed to have oil and gas reserves, and control over the creek affects the delimitation of maritime boundaries, Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and continental shelves.
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