A Year After Operation Sindoor

A year after India delivered a robust military response to Pakistan in the wake of the terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), it is clear that the next en­counter between the two countries will not be as placid as the last one. There are multiple indicators that India will respond harshly.

Speaking to reporters in Jaipur on May 7, Vice Admiral AN Pramod, the director general of Naval Operations, said: “Our next response will be about sustained overmatch. If challenged again, we will not merely respond, we will shape the battlespace from the outset.” Officers of the Indian armed forces are not known for braggadocio. In fact, India chose the path of peace last time, it won’t the next time Pakistan opts for a misadventure.

There is, however, a higher level of action as well, one where Pakistan can be made to pay even more dearly than any losses it may suffer on the battlefield. For the first time since it came into being, India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. The expression used by India is “abeyance”. But make no mistake, as matters stand, the treaty is as good as dead. Here, at last, is a lever that can serve as a weapon that can deliver far more than any nuclear weapon can. Pakistan’s water stress—borne from its mismanagement of its existing water resources—has created a pressure point, one that India can exploit. It is the ultimate weapon of peace against the recalcitrant regime across the Radcliffe Line.

It is interesting to note that a year since Operation Sindoor, the ‘peace-with-Pakistan-at-any-cost’ lobby in India appears to be disoriented. But no one should be under any illusion about its deep roots in India’s civil society. It has been nourished well over time. In any future hybrid war-like situation, this fact should not be lost sight of.

In terms of comprehensive national power, India outranks Pakistan decisively. But such measures are of no use unless there is political will to tackle a determined foe. At the moment, India has that will. It is important that such will be preserved.