India’s Post-Conflict Diplomacy: Reclaiming the Global Narrative on Terrorism
The Pahalgam terrorist attack of April 2025 triggered the articulation of a new security doctrine by India—a ‘new normal’ for countering cross-border terrorism at its source, defining a revised national security and foreign policy vision. India’s robust military response—Operation Sindoor—was calibrated deterrence, designed to send a clear message of resolve, primarily to Pakistan but also […]
Will India’s ‘Integrated Deterrence’ Stem Cross-Border Terror?
As more information about the battleground realities trickles in, security analysts are busy finding templates to explain India’s calibrated counter-terror action launched in response to the brutal cross-border terrorist attack in April 2025. Operation Sindoor has already reignited debates on the theory of deterrence. Did the deterrence of 2019 fade? Does deterrence really work? Can […]
The Assam Tribune: India should adopt two-pronged strategy to deal with Pakistan, says ex-envoy Bisaria
India should adopt a two-pronged strategy to deal with Pakistan-military action against terrorism together with calibrated diplomatic moves, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria said. In an interview with The Assam Tribune, Bisaria also expressed the view that Pakistan would continue to harbour terrorists, at least for some time to come. Following are […]
Munir’s Dangerous Doctrine
Ultimately, the Munir Doctrine is a dead end. It substitutes belligerence for strategic thinking. It indulges the military’s worst instincts. In trying to cast himself as heir to Jinnah and Zia, Munir is embalming a vision of Pakistan that no longer serves its people—and driving it toward becoming a reckless, war-making garrison state.
Sindoor’s New Red Line
Pakistan, by contrast, embraces external involvement. It needs the optics. It declares every Western phone call a validation of its global stature, just as it rebrands military defeats as victories. The Pakistani military’s propaganda wing, ISPR, will undoubtedly package Op Bunyan Ul Marsoos as an unqualified victory —short war, operational brilliance, and international attention.
The same logic was deployed to claim triumph in 1965, 1971, and 1999, each a setback to Pakistan’s army. What really matters is control of the domestic narrative.
As India celebrates Op Sindoor, a robust debate will take place on strategic choices and operational success. Across the border, Pakistan will project its army chief, General Asim Munir, as a victor. He will expect that this limited conflict has bolstered his authority. It plays into long-standing paranoia about India, casting the army as the nation’s sole saviour.
India has now made a doctrinal pivot in its fight against terrorism. India does not need war—or passive restraint. It has delivered a credible, coercive slap against terrorism. But will that prevent the next Pahalgam? Will it make Pakistan rethink the costs of using terrorism as strategy? For India, deterrence is not about spectacle. It has reshaped the adversary’s calculus.
Pulwama
On Valentine’s Day in February 2019, a convoy of buses carrying paramilitary personnel snaked its way from Jammu to Srinagar on National Highway 44. Just short of Lethapora, a little town in Pulwama district, a loud explosion drowned out the quiet hum of the cavalcade. It was 3.15 p.m. A bloodied Kashmir once again became […]
The Economist: India and Pakistan are bracing for a military clash
During the last big military stand-off between India and Pakistan, in 2019, Mike Pompeo was woken by an urgent call at his hotel in Hanoi. Mr Pompeo, who was then America’s secretary of state, described in a memoir being connected to an Indian minister who said Pakistan was preparing a nuclear strike on India. Mr Pompeo […]
BBC: India and Pakistan are in crisis again – here’s how they de-escalated in the past
Last week’s deadly militant attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, which claimed 26 civilian lives, has reignited a grim sense of déjà vu for India’s security forces and diplomats. This is familiar ground. In 2016, after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in Uri, India launched “surgical strikes” across the Line of Control – the de facto […]
Why Pak army must now feel the heat
India must re-impose deterrence and reinforce security A lush meadow in Pahalgam was soaked in innocent blood this week, marking the most painful terrorist blow to India since 2008. As investigators confirmed Pakistan’s role in the massacre, 22/4 became another grim reminder that its western neighbour remains India’s primary adversary. Strategic neglect is not an […]
India’s Multi-Vector Engagement: Can It Include Pakistan?
A major question that arises in this context is whether India can reach tactical understandings, if not strategic resets, with its traditional regional adversaries, China and Pakistan. Both rivalries, at the very least, consume considerable strategic bandwidth and military resources. In the case of the northern neighbour, despite Chinese incursions into the Galwan Valley in 2020 followed by a military stand-off on the Himalayan border, India and China have doggedly continued military and diplomatic conversations to de-escalate the crisis and reach a modus vivendi. This has led to the stirrings of a tactical adjustment, with a Modi – Xi meeting in 2024 and softening positions in 2025.