After Operation Sindoor, a diminished terror landscape

After many days of being on the precipice of an all-out war, both India and Pakistan agreed to a tentative cessation of hostilities.

- Kabir Taneja

After many days of being on the precipice of an all-out war, both India and Pakistan agreed to a tentative cessation of hostilities. While US President Donald Trump was first to announce the stopping of hostilities, New Delhi announced that Pakistan's director general of military operations (DGMO) contacted his Indian counterpart at 3:35 pm on May 10, following which it was agreed that all military action from "land, air and sea" will cease.

More crucially, India announced a major strategic shift an hour prior to ceasing the military action. New Delhi said any future act of terror against India would be considered an "act of war." This means that instead of responding with counterterror operations, which are conservative and contained, operations such as Operation Sindoor will be the new norm.

As part of Operation Sindoor, the Indian military took direct aim at Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) strongholds across the border in Bahawalpur and Muridke. For years, India has tried to bring Pakistan-promoted terrorism to the forefront of international discourse with limited success. While diplomacy and politics will remain as a core part of its toolkit, penetrative strikes deep inside Pakistan targeting the ideological and operational arteries of the likes of JeM and LeT are expected to be normalized.

The first phase of Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, led by a kinetic response to the Pahalgam terror attack which claimed 26 lives, is in part a breakdown of India's patience of prioritizing the diplomatic and political routes in its efforts to tame Pakistan-based terrorist entities.