Murderous Neighbour

Even as India targeted terror with surgical precision, Pakistan answered with savagery. Hours after Indian forces executed ‘Operation Sindoor’ - a swift, 25-minute operation that demolished nine terror strongholds of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Pakistani artillery pounded Indian border villages. 15 civilians, including children, were killed while 43 others were injured. This was no act of military retaliation. It was a clear massacre.

India’s strike was a controlled retaliation for the Pahalgam barbarity where 26 innocent civilians were slaughtered by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. India’s strike was a clean, targeted blow which took care not to escalate matters further. Not a single Pakistani military installation was touched. And yet, even as India showed poise, the Pakistani Army resorted to its oldest and ugliest habit – the indiscriminate shelling of civilians.

This was the 14th consecutive day of ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the LoC. But this time, it crossed a blood-soaked line. The Pakistani military’s shelling, described as some of the most intense in years, was clearly timed to project outrage and frustration over India’s neutralisation of terrorist assets that have been operating with impunity under the Pakistani state’s protective gaze.

India has every reason to be angry. The restraint our country showed in ‘Operation Sindoor’ was strategic, meant to remind the world that New Delhi was not seeking war but justice for the unprovoked slaughter of innocent tourists in Pahalgam. Yet this very act of calculated moderation was met with indiscriminate carnage from across the border.

The Pakistani establishment continues to act as both arsonist and fireman - hosting, arming and directing terror groups with one hand while invoking victimhood with the other. That Pakistan still plays host to jihadist franchises as if they were embassies is damning enough. That it mourns their demolition not with shame, but with chest-thumping outrage speaks volumes about its perfidy.

India’s calibrated response must now evolve. India cannot let the death of these innocent civilians go unanswered. It should not be filed away as ‘collateral damage.’ A rogue state that sends artillery fire into border villages, murdering schoolchildren and civilians, must be made to understand the cost of such cowardice. The message, sent by Pakistan was that it would strike the defenceless when its terror proxies are hit. If New Delhi swallows this, it tells Rawalpindi that civilian lives are cheap and that Indian patience is limitless, even in the face of butchery.

With ‘Operation Sindoor,’ New Delhi signalled that it no longer considers terror a cost of diplomacy. But with the slaughter of civilians along the LoC, India must demonstrate sternly to Islamabad that its future responses will not be so restrained. The world must see this latest episode for what it is: a state-sponsored assault on civilians in retaliation for the destruction of terror infrastructure. Pakistan has betrayed its own pretensions of peace. The blood of Indian children now stains its hands. And India should neither forget nor forgive.