India has set ‘new normal’ in response to cross-border terror with Op Sindoor
After four days of intense confrontations, the two sides reached an understanding on halting military actions on Saturday
New Delhi: India has set a “new normal” for responding to terrorism emanating from Pakistan by raising the cost for all acts of cross-border terrorism through Operation Sindoor, which has not concluded, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday, a day after the two countries reached an understanding on halting military actions.
After India’s initial strikes on terror infrastructure early on May 7, Pakistan attacked Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10, triggering stronger responses from the Indian side that targeted Pakistani military facilities ranging from air defence systems to radar sites and command and control centres. After four days of intense confrontations involving drones, missiles and long-range weapons, the two sides reached an understanding on halting military actions on Saturday.
Within minutes of concluding the first set of military strikes on terrorist infrastructure at nine locations in territories controlled by Pakistan at 1.30 am on May 7, the Indian Director General of Military Operations informed his Pakistani counterpart that the attacks were directed only at terror groups and the Indian side was ready to talk, the people, familiar with the intricacies of Operation Sindoor, said on condition of anonymity.
There was no response from the Pakistani side and the people said Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued clear instructions to the armed forces – India’s retaliation to any action by the Pakistani military should be “bigger and stronger”. One of the people quoted Modi as saying: “Wahan se goli chalegi, toh yahan se gola chalega (If they fire bullets, we will respond with with shells).”
The Indian side’s actions should make it clear to both Pakistan and international interlocutors that there is now a “new normal” in New Delhi’s response to cross-border terrorism, especially the raising of the cost for backing and financing terror groups based in Pakistan that have been involved in attacks over the decades, the people said.
“The actions taken by India are aimed at creating and setting a new normal in the relationship. It is not business as usual. Pakistan and the world will have to get used to this new normal because India has had enough,” a second person said.
India achieved the military objective of Operation Sindoor, which was to destroy the targeted terrorist infrastructure, within half an hour of the launch of its strikes on May 7, and the political objective, which was to raise the cost of backing cross-border terrorism, the people said.
Noting that the government has spoken of having a strategy of striking terrorists within Pakistan – or as one person put it, “ghar me ghus ke marenge (kill them within their home) – the people said this too had been achieved. “The terrorists were struck in the heartland of Pakistan, not at the border,” the second person said.
“The cost of terrorism has increased. The Indus Waters Treaty is linked to the cross-border terrorism and it will be held in abeyance as long as terrorism from Pakistan continues,” the second person said.
The people said these factors set Operation Sindoor – launched in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 that killed 26 civilians – apart from the surgical strikes across the Line of Control after the 2016 Uri terror attack and the air strike on Balakot in Pakistan’s Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa province after the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 Indian troops.
“The Indus Waters Treaty survived three wars and a four-decade-long campaign of cross-border terrorism. Essentially, the point is that Pakistan cannot carry on with cross-border terrorism while expecting cooperation in areas of its own choosing,” the first person said.
The people explained the rationale behind India’s choice of the nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) where terrorist infrastructure was targeted, particularly the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) main “markaz” or base at Bahawalpur, the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) stronghold at Muridke, both in Pakistan’s Punjab province, and bases of groups such as Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Ansar at Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK.
“One thing that joins all these facilities together is that they are intimately tied to the Pakistani deep state’s complicity with and sponsorship of terrorism over a long period. These facilities, the organisations that they house, the terrorists that are based there, they all have a long track record of activity against India,” the first person said.
The JeM base at Bahawalpur was among the first three targets struck on May 7 and it was hit with the “most potent weapon available”, the people said, recalling JeM founder Masood Azhar’s link to several brazen attacks in India since he formed the group after being freed from an Indian jail along with two terrorists in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked flight IC-814 in 2000. These attacks included the assault on India’s Parliament in December 2001.
In purely psychological terms, the people said, the Indian side wanted to send across the message to the terror groups that “no place is safe”, and India’s armed forces are capable of going deep into “Pakistani territory in the mainland and hitting targets that are identified with their security establishment”.
The people also pointed to the evidence that emerged following the attack on Murdike of senior Pakistani military and civilian officials attending the funeral of people killed at the LeT’s sprawling base on the outskirts of Lahore.
“The funeral of terrorists being conducted with coffins wrapped in flags and military officers present should put to rest the myth that the terrorists are only linked with Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. These terrorists are linked with the entire Pakistani society – the deputy commissioner of Lahore was there and there was representation from the Punjab chief minister’s office,” the first person said, referring to photos and videos that have emerged of the funeral.
