A swift, high-profile 25-minute military mission involving 24 precision strikes on terrorist sites across nine locations in Pakistan. This marked the launch of Operation Sindoor – India’s retaliation two weeks after 26 civilians were killed in Pahalgam.
Operation Sindoor – named as an ode to female victims who lost their husbands in the attack – and the decision to have lady officers lead the first media briefing in India have both been hailed as strong strategic signalling to Pakistan.
Giving details at the briefing in Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the missile strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Punjab province were “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible,” focusing on “dismantling terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists”.
Army Colonel Sofiya Qureshi said the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force successfully destroyed terrorist camps between 1.05 am and 1.30 am on Wednesday, and the targets were selected based on intelligence inputs to avoid damage to civilian infrastructure. “No military sites were attacked and no civilian lives were harmed,” asserted Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.
In PoK, multiple strikes were conducted at five locations in Muzaffarabad, Kotli, and Bhimber districts, targeting Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training camps. Four other locations were hit in Pakistan’s Punjab province – Sialkot, Muridke, and Bahawalpur – damaging LeT and JeM headquarters, seminaries, and a training camp of the Hizbul Mujahideen group.
Non-contact warfare
Aside from the militant camps in PoK near the Line of Control (LoC), this marks the first time since 1971 that military strikes have been launched deep into the heart of Punjab without mobilising ground forces or crossing the border, military personnel said.
The long-range missile strikes, which reached as far as Bahawalpur – 100 kilometres from the International Border – signified the use of a “kinetic non-contact warfare” strategy by the armed forces, noted Brigadier (Retd) Vivek Verma, author and military scholar. “We have been saying for years that Pakistan must turn off the tap of terrorism. Therefore, only the non-state actors and their infrastructure were targeted in this attack through precision-guided missiles, without crossing the LoC.”
Verma added that the “non-escalatory, non-contact approach” was crucial to minimising the risk of escalation and ensuring the safety of military personnel. The tactic borrows from the current global trend employed by both state actors and terrorist or militant groups. Last October, Iran launched 200 missiles inside Israel in response to the Gaza invasion, without deploying any boots on the ground. Saudi Arabia, similarly, continues to fight the Houthis in Yemen through missile strikes without engaging any ground troops.
During the 2019 Balakot air strike, when the IAF bombed a JeM camp in Mansehra district, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman accidentally landed in enemy territory after his MiG-21 Bison fighter jet was shot down. This time, Verma said, the armed forces were able to execute a “shoot and scoot” operation without endangering personnel.
Punjab, hub of India-centric jihad
Targeting Punjab province was critical to disrupting the infrastructure of India-centric terror groups, asserts Shreyas Deshmukh, research associate at the Delhi Policy Group. Most Pakistani militants involved in the Kashmir and Afghan jihad originate from Punjab. The LeT headquarters in Muridke and the JeM base in Bahawalpur are sprawling compounds with seminaries and madrasas that serve as centres for ideological indoctrination and recruitment.
In a statement reported by BBC Urdu, JeM chief Masood Azhar claimed that 10 members of his family and four close associates were killed in the strike on the Subhan Allah Mosque in Bahawalpur.
“Punjab province is the primary hub for Kashmir-centric terror groups and harbours strong anti-India sentiment. It is well equipped with logistical infrastructure to support these groups and receives financial contributions from locals in the form of zakat and Eid donations, which sustain their operations,” Deshmukh stated.
Other districts in Punjab – such as Gujranwala, Sargodha, and Jhang – remain hotbeds for training and radicalising militants to infiltrate India and mount attacks, researchers said.
“Muridke, Bahawalpur, and Muzaffarabad have been legitimate targets for over two decades. But it would be premature to say that hitting them has ended terrorism,” said Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd), scholar at CLAWS and VIF think-tanks. “The deterrence value of surgical strikes like Balakot is limited.”
Long-term deterrence, protracted war
Since the Balakot strike and the 2019 abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, terror activities have declined – but not ceased – in the region.
Ashok Behuria, senior fellow at IDSA and long-time Pakistan watcher, said that given Pakistan’s history of backing terror groups, military actions like Operation Sindoor are unlikely to deter it permanently. While there may be a temporary lull in infiltration and attacks, they are likely to resume when conditions are favourable.
“Terrorism is a hydra-headed monster. It’s a low-cost strategy for the state establishment, and it will resurface to harm India’s interests. The Afghan Taliban and anti-government forces in Syria have legitimised jihadists’ hold on power. Pakistan is unlikely to abandon terror groups as part of its power apparatus.”
Sharma believes it is incumbent upon the Indian government to change the ‘grammar’ and definition of war for Pakistan by developing a strategy for protracted war. ”It should include a long-term menu of responses, which is not just ‘military action’ but a diverse and imaginative variety of covert and overt means including those that do not denote attributability,” he says.
His sentiments are echoed by several analysts and military veterans who agree that, given Pakistan’s irredentist claims on Kashmir and its ideology of bleeding India through a thousand cuts, India must adopt a long-term dynamic strategy. It should simultaneously refine and elevate its military posture while also leveraging diplomatic, political, and economic tools to sustain pressure and deter Islamabad over time.
Ajay Bisaria, who was the High Commissioner to Pakistan during the time of the Pulwama attack, said that with the Balakot strikes, India aimed to establish deterrence by targeting known terrorist hubs, accompanied by a strong de-escalatory message. This time, with Operation Sindoor, India has reimposed that deterrence, which had faded due to Pakistan’s domestic crisis.
Internally, Pakistan is wrecked by severe political instability and economic turmoil, with soaring inflation and mounting foreign debt. Islamabad plunged into deep crisis in 2023 after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on corruption charges. He was recently sentenced to 14-year imprisonment. In the aftermath, Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) became the PM with the tacit support of the army. His government is widely perceived as weak and heavily influenced by the military, lacking real autonomy in decision-making.
Tensions between the military and political leadership became apparent last month at the Overseas Pakistanis Convention, where in Sharif’s muted presence, Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir declared Kashmir to be Islamabad’s “jugular vein”. Munir urged Pakistanis to remember the history of the two-nation theory and vowed support for the fight to “liberate” Kashmir. The Pahalgam attack was widely interpreted as a military-backed response to the general’s provocative rhetoric.
Bisaria added that Pakistan is likely to retaliate with a response that creates the perception of being “a notch above” Operation Sindoor. “The challenge now will be to manage the next level of escalation – a real test for crisis diplomacy.”
If you liked this piece, let our reporters tell you why you should subscribe to Newslaundry.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
