Retributive Resolve

For far too long, Pakistan has treated terrorism not as a scourge but as a strategic asset. Its top brass dares speak of peace while training war criminals. Its diplomats plead innocence even as blood flows from attacks traceable to Rawalpindi’s barracks. The world knows this, yet has pretended otherwise. India, more than any other victim, has borne the brunt of this hypocrisy. But with the aptly named ‘Operation Sindoor,’ launched in retaliation for the barbarous Pahalgam massacre of April 22, India has served a strong notice to Pakistan and the rest of the world that it will not absorb another atrocity in silence.

India’s answer has been swift, calibrated and devastating. Over 70 terrorists are said to have been eliminated. But ‘Operation Sindoor’ marks something far more consequential: a paradigmatic shift in India’s counter-terrorism posture. Unlike the publicised retribution of the Uri or Balakot strikes, this was deeper and more daring. Pakistani air defences, expecting retaliation but unsure of when or where, were utterly blindsided. The deception was brilliant. From the Parliament attack of 2001 to the Mumbai carnage of 2008, and the suicide bombing in Pulwama in 2019, India has grieved and rebuilt, often alone, often unheard. Over the past decade, more than 350 civilians and 600 security personnel have been killed in cross-border terror attacks. Yet India has shown almost inhuman restraint.

The Pahalgam barbarity was the last straw. In an act of spine-chilling cruelty, 25 Indian civilians and one Nepali tourist were gunned down by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, many in front of their families. That the attack took place in Kashmir, a region slowly emerging from the shadows of insurgency and embracing the fruits of tourism and investment, was no coincidence. It was meant to rupture the peace, sow communal discord and signal that even under a new political architecture, the old enemy lurks. Pakistan, through its proxies, sought to remind India of its vulnerabilities. Instead, it reminded India of its resolve. India’s response, while resolute, was also responsible. It struck with the discipline of a constitutional democracy, not the impulse of vengeance. Every effort was made to minimise civilian casualties during ‘Operation Sindoor’.

India’s strike was not an act of war, but an act of self-respect. It was a fitting reply not just for Pahalgam but for a generation of bloodletting. Pakistan’s era of plausible deniability is over. For India, ‘Operation Sindoor’ is no mere act of retribution but the assertion of our sovereignty and our national dignity which has been repeatedly mocked and tested.

‘Operation Sindoor’ perhaps the end of something tolerated too long. India, for all its power, has always sought peace. But peace cannot be built on the bodies of harmless civilians nor negotiated with patrons of butchers. ‘Operation Sindoor’ is India’s reminder to Pakistan - and to the world - that our strategic patience is not infinite. It is a stern reminder that India is no longer willing to play the part of the stoic sufferer. It will strike, and it will strike hard. Pakistan has long sown the wind. It must now reap the whirlwind.