Operation Sindoor: A doctrinal shift and also an inflection point

An India that's firmly on the rise has signalled its resolve to shift the cost of terrorism to its epicentre

- HARSH V. PANT

That Pakistan lives in its own delusionary world was evident once again when its Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hailed the ceasefire understanding with India a "historic victory" in his address to the nation.

Describing Pakistan as the victim of an "unjustified war" allegedly waged by India and using the Pahalgam incident as a pretext, he portrayed the ceasefire not as a diplomatic understanding initiated by Islamabad, but as the result of Pakistan's supposed military prowess.

The reality, of course, is quite different as Pakistan's own director general of military operations reached out to India with a request to end hostilities, which resulted in a mutually agreed ceasefire with no concessions from India.

The steps that India has initiated over the past few days, including the Indus Waters Treaty put in abeyance, ban on imports from Pakistan and the closing of air space for flights from and to Pakistan will continue for the foreseeable future.

More significantly, hours before the ceasefire announcement, New Delhi declared a dramatic shift in its policy towards Pakistan by making it clear that any future act of terrorism targeting India will be treated as an act of war.

Operation Sindoor would be repeated, India has warned Pakistan, if its age-old approach of using terrorism as an instrument of state policy doesn't undergo a fundamental shift.

This is the 'new normal' that those who are declaring a faux victory in Pakistan should factor into their calculus.