Setting the agenda

Modi has sent a strong message on Pakistan's habitual recourse to nuclear brinksmanship

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Punjab's Adampur airbase on Tuesday, one of the images stood out from the rest. It showed him waving at the jawans, with an intact S-400 air defence system clearly visible in the background. The messaging was clear: Pakistan bluffed when it claimed that it has destroyed the defence system. A day earlier, Modi did even better in a strongly-worded message to the nation after pausing Operation Sindoor. The speech clearly delineated India's new doctrine against terrorism resting on three key elements: a response on India's terms; no tolerance for terror that hides under "nuclear blackmail"; and no distinction between the terrorists, their leaders, and a government that sponsors them.