LASTING DETERRENCE: OPERATION SINDOOR INDIA EMERGES STRONG OVER VULNERABLE PAKISTAN

On April 22, 2025, the peace in the valley of Pahalgam was shaken by a brutal terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 26 civilians.

- Col Rajesh Bhukar

The strike, claimed by The Resistance Front, a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), stirred up long-standing animosities dragging India and Pakistan back into the vortex of confrontation. In an appropriate and calculated response, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, a pre-dawn offensive involving 24 precision-guided missile strikes on nine terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). This was more than a military reprisal. Operation Sindoor marked coining of India’s new national security doctrine - hit precise, hit hard, and hit deep. From the LeT stronghold of Muridke near Lahore to the JeM base in Bahawalpur, and from launch pads in Kotli and Muzaffarabad to radicalisation hubs in Chakwal, the strikes aimed to dismantle infrastructure critical to anti-India operations. Reportedly the terror infrastructure suffered a huge set back. What distinguished this strike from earlier retaliatory actions, such as the Balakot airstrike of 2019, were the unprecedented depth, coordination, a