Red Lines

The recent massacre in Pahalgam has once again laid bare the brutal persistence of jihadist violence in Kashmir.

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It is not the first time civilians have been targeted in cold blood, and it may not be the last. What makes this attack alarming is its strategic timing, symbolism and use of communal markers ~ it signals not just a resurgence of terror, but a calculated erosion of India's red lines. Since the 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot air raid, India had projected a deterrent posture: any major act of terror would invite swift and punishing retaliation. For a time, it seemed to work. Violence dipped, infiltration slowed, and the abrogation of Article 370 added a new layer of administrative control. But Pakistan's terror proxies have learned to pause, not retreat. With their jihadist infrastructure intact, they return to the battlefield when it suits their handlers in Rawalpindi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi now faces five difficult choices ~ none of them risk-free, and all with limited prospects of permanent suc