Operation Sindoor, launched a year ago in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack by a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) proxy, marked a paradigm change in both India’s response to terrorism originating from Pakistani soil and conflicts between the South Asian rivals. It articulated New Delhi’s new doctrine: India would respond conventionally to terror attacks, not differentiating between terrorists and their supporters — in this case, the Pakistani military — and would not tolerate nuclear blackmail. Both are likely to have changed the
Operation Sindoor, launched a year ago in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack by a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) proxy, marked a paradigm change in both India’s response to terrorism originating from Pakistani soil and conflicts between the South Asian rivals. It articulated New Delhi’s new doctrine: India would respond conventionally to terror attacks, not differentiating between terrorists and their supporters — in this case, the Pakistani military — and would not tolerate nuclear blackmail. Both are likely to have changed the variables in Islamabad’s cost-benefit analysis of supporting terrorist groups.
The four days of hostilities, arguably the most intense conflict between India and Pakistan since the Kargil border war of 1999, saw the two countries making use of drones and missiles to target each other, alongside the deployment of modern battlefield technologies such as networking and Artificial Intelligence for the analysis and acquisition of targets. India used beyond visual range missiles, and its advanced air defence system staved off attacks, including on civilian targets, by Pakistani drones and missiles. Events since, including the war in West Asia, have only reiterated the importance of both drones and air defences in modern warfare, and India should continue to build capabilities in the two areas.
Operation Sindoor also highlighted another aspect of such confrontations: A communication component. Both India and Pakistan focussed on this, as controlling the narrative became as important as (if not more than) battlefield victories. This is another area where India would do well to focus on, especially ensuring that senior military personnel speak in one voice.
Over the past year, there is a growing feeling among generals in Rawalpindi that the US administration is more closely aligned to Pakistan now, something that could encourage them to undertake another rash act of adventurism, and the only logical option for India is to keep its powder dry in order to cope with any terrorist incident. New Delhi has done well to draw a red line; it now has to maintain it.
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