A country often pigeonholed as reactive has just gone decisively on the front foot. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of Buddha Purnima—a day devoted to peace and enlightenment—announced something rather less tranquil: Operation Sindoor, a military response to the brutal April 2 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed civilians, including women and children, apparently for no reason other than their faith.
Modi’s choice of timing was deliberate. “Peace also requires power,” he declared, drawing an unmissable line between Buddhist principle and geopolitical necessity. That juxtaposition—a civilisational ethos reframed through hard power—is the core of this new doctrine, one that rethinks what counterterrorism might look like in the 21st century.
India’s operation, named after the vermilion mark worn during Hindu rituals and weddings, wasn’t symbolic. It was, by Modi’s telling, surgical, swift and unapologetic. Starting on May 6, and lasting into the early hours of May 7, Indian intelligence and defence forces coordinated air and missile strikes into Pakistan-controlled territory. The targets: training camps, logistics hubs, and hideouts in areas like Bahawalpur and Muridke—long known but seldom touched. The number killed, reportedly over 100, included what Indian officials called “high-value assets”—militants protected for decades under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella.
The fallout has been rapid. Pakistan retaliated with fire across the border, reportedly hitting religious sites and civilian areas. India’s air defence shield neutralised most of it, and while Islamabad issued its usual denials, the unusual part was what followed. According to Indian sources, Pakistan’s own military initiated contact on May 10, requesting calm. A ceasefire request from the instigator of decades of proxy warfare? That, for New Delhi, was evidence that Operation Sindoor had landed a blow not just on targets, but on doctrine.
India’s leadership is now taking full advantage of this moment to declare a shift—not just in tactics, but in global norms. Modi laid out three pillars: global reach in pursuit of terror operatives; zero tolerance for nuclear blackmail; and no distinction between state and non-state actors. These are not subtle changes. In a region that has long operated under the logic of asymmetry—militant groups acting with impunity under the protection of their host nations’ nukes—India is saying the umbrella has holes.
This new assertiveness hasn’t come out of nowhere. For years, India has watched its restraint being interpreted as weakness, especially after attacks like Pulwama in 2019 or the 2008 Mumbai siege. Even the Balakot air strikes, which followed Pulwama, felt more like a message than a doctrine. Sindoor, however, feels different. It’s being framed not as an isolated response, but as a template.
Critics may say this is a gamble. Pakistan’s military elite still believes in its strategic depth theory, and its security apparatus continues to rely on proxy groups. But India seems to be betting on a different outcome this time—one where Islamabad’s ability to provoke without cost is steadily eroded.
This shift is backed by domestic unity. Modi’s address was not framed around party politics. It deliberately cast the response as one led by consensus: “every citizen, every political party, every community stood together.” That claim may gloss over some internal debates, but it taps into a widely shared frustration—that India’s patience has, for too long, invited provocation.
There’s also the technological angle. Modi took time to highlight India’s growing capacity for indigenous defence innovation. Drones, cyber capabilities, smart missiles—built at home, used abroad. This is not just about deterrence; it’s about self-reliance, a favoured theme in Modi’s economic vision. The Made-in-India stamp, once mocked for its gaps, is now being applied to defence tech and deployed in live theatres.
The real test lies ahead. Has this response shifted Pakistan’s calculus? Will the international community quietly acknowledge the legitimacy of India’s doctrine, or raise the usual diplomatic eyebrows? For now, the early signs suggest the former. Few capitals have rushed to condemn India’s actions. Many have watched with the cautious understanding that democracies, too, can be pushed into corners.
And yet, there was no triumphalism in Modi’s tone—just a message. “If Pakistan wishes to survive as a state, it must dismantle its terror infrastructure.” That is less a warning than an ultimatum. India is no longer waiting to be provoked into response; it has decided what its red lines are, and it has drawn them in sindoor.
This approach is likely to trigger uncomfortable discussions in foreign ministries around the world. Western democracies that have spent years tied up in legal and moral knots over what constitutes a proportional response may now find themselves looking east. If India can reframe counterterrorism as law enforcement with global reach, the dominoes may fall quickly. After all, what Delhi is proposing is less a war on terror than an audit of its enablers.
There is, of course, no neat resolution to cross-border militancy, especially when its roots run through state apparatus. But with Operation Sindoor, India has signalled that ambiguity is no longer an excuse for inaction. The lines have been redrawn—firmly, and with red powder.
Quotes sourced from PM Narendra Modi’s national address, 12 May 2024, New Delhi
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