by Rajesh Kumar Sinha

Operation Sindoor may well be considered as a defining moment in India’s long struggle against terrorism. It has been facing the scourge of terrorism for many decades, starting with Naxalism in 1960s to secessionist movements in north eastern India (under the Chinese influence and support), to terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir.

The situation really became volatile when in early years of 21st century, it started experiencing frequent daytime terror attacks in the form of bomb blasts, shootings and killings in markets, trains, crowded places in towns and cities across India, mostly with explicit help from Pakistan.

The macabre incident on 22nd April in Pahalgam in which 26 innocent Hindu civilian tourists along with one Muslim local, were brutally killed by Pakistani TRF terrorists, however led to a new crisis.

The incident became all the more barbaric since it involved killings by identifying tourists on the basis of their religion. The victims were chosen with the unequivocal aim to challenge the authority of Indian state and its sovereignty.

Operation Sindoor was launched by Indian armed forces on night of 7th May, 2025 as an attack on terrorists, their leaders, bases, major infrastructure with the objective of destroying their disruptive capacity and morale for further attacks on India, its citizens and security apparatus.

It led to the commencement of a new era of strategic thinking and policy while creating a red line that terrorism, henceforth will be considered as an act of war against Indian nation and is to be treated accordingly.

It was defining in the sense that for the first time, India took initiative, crossed international borders, went deep inside Pakistan/ any foreign country and hit them hard, tactically, militarily, strategically and psychologically.

Though way back in December 1971 too, India had secured an overwhelming military victory against Pakistan, it was different since Indian attack went deep inside Pakistan, on the western side of Indian borders, very close to Pakistan military headquarters (almost three kilometres), in Rawalpindi.

Operation Sindoor is important since it was for the first time, Indian army, air force and navy successfully initiated jointness and fought under an integrated command. The experience gained form this limited conflict will help to further recalibrate and innovate tactics, strategies and actions for future conflicts.

Diplomatically too, it was distinct since India took action on its own without waiting for some sort of moral support from major powers or reaching out to UN/world bodies with a complaint in form of a dossier like we did post 26/11 Mumbai mayhem by Pakistani terrorists. It also showed an utter disregard among world and regional powers like US, Russia, India, Israel for the UN and its increasing irrelevance in global geopolitics and security.

It was unique since on its own, militarily India fought against Pakistani military that used political, military and intelligence support from China and Turkey and yet came out on top. So it turned out to be a success for its military tactics, political/diplomatic resolve and resilience from its people, especially youth, as was evident from their support across the line.

Operation Sindoor was a success of India’s Made in India initiative. Along with tremendous success of foreign weapon systems like S-400, Sukhoi Su-30MKI, Rafale, Barak-8, MRSAM, Hammer and SkyStriker, the conflict witnessed unprecedented successes of Indian weaponries like Akash, Akashteer, Dhanush, ATAGS that somehow late made global headlines against failures of hyped Chinese HQ-9, HQ-16, Turkish Bayraktar TB-2 systems.

The Indian weapon systems are now being increasingly looked after by prospective buyers across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America while being seen as a competitor in military hardware exports by major arm suppliers.

So far, there have always been this misnomer that any penetrative attacks on Pakistan could result in a nuclear catastrophe and hence India should avoid, attacking and getting into a direct conflict. Pakistan quite astutely exploited this notion and kept India hitting through its proxies, trained, nurtured, financed and supported by it. Operation Sindoor was able to call out Pakistani nuclear bluff and signalled a new paradigm that India can and will hit deep, if and when its core interests are challenged.

It is ready to go up the escalatory level, in line with its own strategic thinking;
Will not seek approval for action from US, Russia, Europe or the UN;
It is militarily capable and prepared to fight its own wars at a short notice;
It is well-equipped in conflict management and will try to limit it.

It was significant since in this 88-hours conflict, India attacked and used its air assets substantially. It hit at 11 of the major air bases of PAF, crippled their ability to retaliate, air defence was found virtually non-existent and attacked their nuclear assets too.

The way it dominated the air and sea domain with Pakistan Navy being forced to remain stuck at Karachi harbour and base, is evident of significant progress made by Indian military in terms of weapons, electronic systems, their usage and tactics.

The only area that Pakistan secured a convincing edge was information/ perception warfare with its overt media manipulation (in cahoots with China) in projecting its matching warfare skills against adversary. The celebration of so-called success of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, promotion of General Asim Munir as Field Marshal and unprecedented media hype of alleged downing of Rafales of IAF (no credible confirmation, in fact an explicit rejection of such claims by French company) are part of this narrative build-up by Pakistan Army.

However in reality, Pakistan military had to face severe embarrassment when it was forced to use politico-diplomatic channels to request cessation of hostilities through intermediaries like US and Saudi Arabia. And very recently, it failed to secure any images of credible damages to Indian military installations from three different commercial satellite image entities.

Finally, a very critical aspect of Operation Sindoor that needs to be analysed is India’s success in conflict management. Unlike a common perception that once a war gets started, it becomes uncertain to what extent/duration it could go on, affecting the socio-economic life (Russia-Ukraine war, Israel-Palestine conflict, US conflict in Afghanistan).

India tried to confine its conflict only against selective terrorist targets, but once Pakistan military expanded, it ensured that its limited objectives are achieved in minimal time and resources while allowing the adversary, a saving grace without compromising on its core interests.

India this has shown it has come a long way from following a policy of request, discussion and persuasion to assertive clarity in its diplomatic and strategic thinking and action.

This piece from the originating author might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. IDN does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author