Operation Sindoor crossed many red lines

From Pahalgam to Operation Sindoor: India responds to targeted killing of civilians

Operation Sindoor, which was executed in response to the dastardly killing of Hindu men in Pahalgam, has created history and caused many red lines. The heinous Jihad unleashed on peaceful tourists at Pahalgam on 22nd April 2025 shook the collective consciousness of the whole nation. Given the past responses of the Modi government, such as surgical strikes in response to Uri attacks, and cross-border air attacks in Balakot after Pulwama attacks, the whole nation expected a much serious response from the government for the Pahalgam attacks. Unlike the previous two attacks, which targeted the forces, the Pahalgam attacks targeted the innocent Hindu civilian men killed in cold blood in front of their women and children. While the earlier attacks of the Uri and Pulwama were attributed to non-state actors, the Pahalgam attack had a direct impression of the Pakistani establishment as the main culprit, as Hashim Musa is a Pakistani army special forces soldier. All the pretensions and masks came off, and these attacks came within a few days of Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir’s communal rants and instigating Hindu and Bharat hatred.

Name of the operation

The naming of the operation to punish Pakistan for the Pahalgam attack as ‘Operation Sindoor’ is very apt, profound, and significant. The dastardly terror attack had wiped out the sindoor of twenty-five Hindu women, and so ‘Operation Sindoor’ was an apt description of Bharat’s retaliation. It connected the entire country to their civilizational respect for the concept of sindoor, the vermilion used by married women on their foreheads.

Presumption of Pakistani guilt

The retaliatory strikes after the Uri and Pulwama attacks happened after presenting evidence of involvement of actors within Pakistan. Operation Sindoor, on the other hand, did not wait for the capture or the elimination of the perpetrators of the attack, nor was any evidence of the Pakistani involvement presented by the Government of India before it executed Operation Sindoor. A new red line has been crossed, and a new normal has been established that any terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir will be presumed to be instigated, planned, and executed by Pakistan or its proxies.

Nuclear bluff called

Under the garb of nuclear blackmail, Pakistan had unleashed a non-conventional low-level proxy war of Jihad, restraining any formal military response from Bharat. Operation Sindoor crossed this red line and hit Pakistan not just in POJK but also deep into the Pakistani Punjabi heartland, challenging Pakistan to go nuclear. Pakistan, of course, did not have the gumption to cross the nuclear threshold for fear of a massive, disproportionate nuclear response from Bharat, potentially annihilating the whole of Pakistan. Pakistan had mentioned the four red lines crossing which they will use the nuclear weapons.

1. Stoppage of Indus water
2. Attacks on their nuclear installations
3. Blockade of Karachi Port
4. Loss of massive territory

Bharat crossed three of those red lines, and yet Pakistan did not or could not retaliate with a nuclear strike. Put the Indus water treaty in abeyance, forcing its entire navy to be cornered into Karachi Naval Base and attacks on their Nuclear delivery and command center, and crossed three of the red lines. It was the first time since the end of World War II that two nuclear-powered nations engaged in direct conventional warfare and not escalating it to a full-blown nuclear war. It is also pertinent to note that all the world powers who were previously restraining Bharat from taking any military action against Pakistan against its terrorism proxy wars have all remained silent and did not press the panic button. Most of them have accepted Bharat’s right to respond either willingly or grudgingly. Even Pakistan’s all-weather friend China used the term ‘regrettable’ but did not raise any nuclear bogies. Operation Sindoor has effectively nullified any nuclear blackmail leveraging Pakistan may have had, and is effectively called its first use of nuclear blackmail bluff.

The arrogance of the Pakistani Punjabi elite exposed

The 1947 war and, 1965 war were largely fought in POJK, and the 1971 war was mostly on the eastern front, creating Bangladesh. The 1999 Kargil skirmish was confined only to the Jammu and Kashmir area. The gains of the Pakistani Punjabi territories in 1965 and 1971 had to be surrendered at the negotiation table, resulting in minimal damage to the Punjabi pride. Operation Sindoor has hit extensively and deep into Pakistani Punjab, taking out the air defences of Lahore. Inflicting severe damage to Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, and other major air bases, destroying the terror headquarters of LeT and JeM at Muridke and Bahawalpur, and potentially destroying access to their nuclear weapons stored in the Kirana Hills. These strikes have left a deep wound in the pride and psyche of the Pakistani Punjabi Elite and, for the first time, made them look weak, vulnerable, and defenceless. Losses in POJK, Sindh, Balochistan, or KPK would not hurt Pakistan half as much as the Punjabi heartland being hit with impunity.

Humiliation of three nuclear powers and a NATO member

Equipment from three nuclear-powered countries, viz USA, China, and Pakistan, and the equipment of the NATO country, Turkiye, have been effectively countered and destroyed by equipment made in Russia, Bharat, and France. Turkish SONGAR and Bayraktar drones, touted to be the best in the world, were all shot down without allowing them to cause any damage. A Turkish drone operator also died in Bharat’s attacks. Thus exposing the Turkish bluff of the drone superiority. Most of these Turkish drones were shot down by old Russian L70 Air guns. Pakistan has 81% Chinese equipment, including their air defence systems, radars, aircraft, and missiles. The HQ9B air defence system was effectively neutralised, thus leaving the Pakistani airspace undefended for a free run of indian attacks. The Chinese PL-15 BVRAM (Beyond Visual Range Air Missile), touted to have the longest operational range of 200 Kms, has mostly been shot down or have crashed into Indian Territory without causing any damage. USA, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, NATO, and many other countries are requesting Bharat to share the details of the PL-15s that have crashed almost intact in Indian Territory. Everyone wants to know if these missiles are really as effective as China claims to be. There are losses of Chinese aircraft, including JF-10C and JF-17’s have been confirmed by DGAO Air Marshal A K Bharti. Several American F-16s are reported to have been lost to Indian attacks. Reports suggest four F-16s in the Air and Four F-16s on the ground were destroyed in the IAF’s attacks. Almost all of the American radars have been taken out in the IAF attacks. Loss of their high-profile technologies and equipment is hard to digest for these nuclear and NATO powers. So they unleashed a narrative war suggesting Bharat lost several of its Rafales. As Air Marshal A K Bharti said, some combat losses are normal in such cases, but the end result of severe thrashing of the Pakistani air bases, defences, and morale are more important. It is also believed that the Indian Air Force used several decoy ghost planes, Banshee, mimicking the radar signatures of Rafale and others, thus fooling the Pakistani Air Defences and responses. China was not just a passive weapon supplier to Pakistan; it was also actively involved in the operations by providing satellite, navigational, and other logistical support to Pakistan. We also know that Donald Trump had approved 370-plus million dollars for the maintenance of F-16s. In some measure, both these countries had passively or actively supported or helped Pakistan. And hence the punishment meted out in the Operation Sindoor is not just punishment to Pakistan, but also to China and the USA as well.

The world is stunned by Bharat’s superior defence technologies

While Russia is unable to counter Ukrainian missile attacks effectively using its S-400, the same S-400, rechristened as Sudarshana Chakra as part of Bharat’s integrated air defence system, has achieved wonders against American, Chinese, Turkish, and Pakistani technologies. It even shut down two of SAAB’s AWACS Air Bound, roughly 315 km deep inside Pakistani territories. Bharat’s integrated air control defence systems seamlessly integrated otherwise incompatible systems from the Russia-built ones, NATO-compliant French and American platforms, and Bharat’s own systems like the Akash, AkashTir, and other systems. Most of these systems are operated by all three wings of the forces. During times of crisis requiring timely and effective responses, there is always the potential for confusion about which command should take the lead. In Operation Sindoor, however, there was a seamless coordination between all the wings of the forces and a choice of cost-effective weapons to neutralize whatever had been thrown at the country. The world knows about the Iron Dome used by Israel and its limitations in dealing with low-cost and massive numbers of missiles and drones thrown at it. The area that Israel defended is also very limited compared to the vast lengths of border that Bharat had to defend. From Bhuj to Rann of Kutch to Kargil and beyond, the missile and drone shield successfully protected the country for more than 3000 km. When Bharat struck vital installations of Pakistan, it inflicted severe damage from Skardu in Occupied Baltistan to Malir Cantonment in Karachi in just 23 minutes, inflicting massive damage to infrastructure and the pride of Pakistan over a vast stretch of frontier. Uncontested attacks on air bases as far away as Peshawar and Balochistan indicated the superiority of Bharat’s technologies, planning, training, and execution with pinpoint precision both in terms of length, depth, and lethality. The devastation wreaked by the Brahmos was even grudgingly acknowledged by the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. No wonder there’s a huge surge in demand for Bharat’s indigenous platforms across the globe. After the world has seen their effectiveness in real combat situations.

Narrative war

Traditionally, Pakistan has always punched far above its weight diplomatically and in the narrative wars. The 2019 Balakot attacks were dismissed as attacks of no consequence, killings of birds, and the felling of a few tree branches. However, in Operation Sindoor, clear satellite, AWACS, and drone footage were provided of all the attacks, and evidence of the pre- and post-attacks was provided officially, thus leaving Pakistan defenseless. Pakistan’s filibustering of having shot down Rafales, S-400’s and causing extensive damage to Bharat’s runways and cities was not supported by any credible evidence in spite of satellite imagery from their all-weather friend, China. When the prime minister addressed the troops from the Adampur AFS, the S-400 was proudly displayed behind him, calling the bluff of Pakistani propaganda of having shot it down. The attacks on Kirana Hills and Chagai Hills denying access to the nuclear storage areas of Pakistan, and Bharat’s silence on these attacks forced Pakistan into silence and made them unable to blame Bharat for the same. DGAO Air Marshal A K Bharti just smiled and brushed off any involvement of Bharati in these attacks. All independent observers have confirmed devastating damage to both of these storage sites. It is probably these attacks that Pakistan pressed the panic button and rushed to the US to seek a stoppage of the operations. Pakistani Defence Minister Khwaja Asif’s statement that proof of Pakistani hits to Indian assets are available on Social Media made him, the Pakistani armed forces, and their supporters a laughing stock. His acceptance of Pakistan’s complicity in Sky News in nurturing the terror networks for over 30 years is an open admission of their official national policy using terror as a statecraft. Shebaz Sharif, as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, admitted that several air bases were attacked using BrahMos before Pakistan could mount an attack on Bharat, thus tacitly accepting their losses and the success of Bharat’s attacks.

New normals

After the temporary stoppage of firing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statements established new normals in dealing with Pakistan.

• Bullets and talks don’t go together
• Bullets and trade don’t go together
• Nuclear blackmail will not work
• Operation Sindoor will be an ongoing process
• Talks with Pakistan will be confined to only two topics, namely terrorism and the handover of areas of Pakistan’s illegal occupation. This tacitly implies that Bharat will not entertain talks on the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.
• Goli ke Badle gola – for every transgression by Pakistan, the response by Bharat will be disproportionately high. Since 1947, this is the first time that Bharat has done pre-emptive strikes on Pakistan’s air bases. In all other wars, the first attacks came from Pakistan, which were responded to by Bharat. As Bharat was willing to go up the escalation ladder, it is also clear that Bharat will not wait for Pakistan to do the first nuclear attack. If there is ‘credible intelligence’ that Pakistan is likely to use its nuclear weapons, Bharat would take pre-emptive actions, thus setting aside its own no first use policy. Pre-emptive strikes have become the new normal.

Operation Sindoor shall be studied for decades on end by all the powers that be to understand how to punish and inflict pain even on nuclear power nations without crossing the nuclear threshold. The technical superiority of the Chinese equipment stands naked before Bharat’s superiority. Bharat has also proved that having superior technology alone will not help unless a professional, coordinated, cost-effective, and calibrated response even with slightly lower technologies. While Bharat also has significant challenges like shortage of required squadrons of fighters, required sea assets, its study progress in indigenising several aspects, especially in emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, drones/ UAV technologies, Radar/ communication technologies, integration of multiple platforms, and last but not least. Its dependence on its own satellite farm, avoiding dependencies on Western, Russian, or Chinese options, has enabled Bharat to avoid the killer switch of many of these superior military powers. There will never be an ideal world, but a culture of optimal utilization of what is on hand and meticulous planning for the future would help the country in staying ahead of the race, thus protecting the nation’s growth, staving off threats, and ensuring respect from friends and foes. Operation Sindoor has changed Bharat forever and has taken it to a league of a confident, reliable, self-sustained, and effective power.

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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