The Third Eye: India's retaliatory action against Pak-directed terror attack in Pahalgam

US President Donald Trump unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist killings of innocent tourists at Pahalgam and a similar response from President Putin of Russia, no doubt strengthened India's hands in its successful attempt to create a long-term deterrence against Pakistan.

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Amidst the period of preparation taken by India, an element of surprise was maintained when India unleashed multiple 'Balakote type' of military strikes 'in one go' on nine terror bases and training complexes across the LoC and Indo-Pak border in the early hours of May 7, in pursuit of its declared strategy of targeting only the terror establishments not the Pakistan army entities. India has, at the same time, retained the right to hunt out the likes of Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar wherever they might have been sheltered by the army.

Details of the action taken by India were presented by Col. Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika the following morning -they were closely associated with the planning of the counter-terror action.

The 'daughters' of India seemed to be at the forefront in avenging the 'widowhood' inflicted by terrorists on so many women at Pahalgam.

'Operation Sindoor' was an Intelligence-based project, and in terms of precision of strikes and coordination among the defence forces, it was planned and executed by India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, with unprecedented perfection.

It is good to know that geopolitically, Indo-US relations rest on a solid footing because of President Trump's unmitigated denunciation of 'Islamic terror'-he made an early announcement of visa restrictions on countries and regions that fostered this kind of terrorand a definite role he envisaged for India in his new strategy of countering China. India has rightly upgraded its profile in the Quad, and this was reflected in the joint statement released after the Quad Foreign Ministers' meet held at Washington on January 22 this year.