Response and restraint

An escalation must be avoided

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In the early hours of Wednesday, Indian armed forces conducted an operation, named Operation Sindoor, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistan. Nine sites that were used to plan and direct terrorist attacks against India were targeted. As a statement by the Ministry of Defence noted, the action by Indian armed forces was focused, measured, and non-escalatory in nature. It was not targeted against any military facility in Pakistan. The limited objective was to dismantle the terror infrastructure, which could be used to send terrorists across the border. This was not an attack on Pakistani civilians.

The action was a response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, where 26 persons, including one Nepali national, were killed. Despite evidence of cross-border involvement in this particular incident and those in the past, the Pakistani establishment failed to take adequate action. Consequently, India has had to use its right to respond.