Opinion With Operation Sindoor, India demonstrates quiet capability and resolve in the face of terror

Following the Pahalgam killings, Pakistan made a telling move — it redeployed its infantry divisions from the western border to the eastern front, clearly anticipating Indian military retaliation. But India played a different game that calculated each move on the escalatory matrix.

Everyone noticed the signs but couldn’t quite read them. A series of high-level meetings — the Prime Minister with his Cabinet, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) with the Defence Minister, NSA, CDS, and service chiefs, followed by another with the Air Chief — signalled something was brewing. Still, India gave nothing away. Even civil defence mock drills supposed to be conducted on May 7 appeared, to outsiders, as routine or disjointed.

Meanwhile, in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the establishment clung to an old playbook — issuing nuclear warnings, hoping to paralyse Indian strategic thinking. But India didn’t blink.

On the morning of May 7, India struck.

The Indian Defence Forces launched Operation Sindoor, executing 21 precision strikes across nine key targets on the other side of the Line of Control (LOC) and the International Border. This wasn’t a symbolic response but a well-planned, surgical demonstration of capability and resolve.

Symbolism matters in war, especially psychological war. That’s why, in an unprecedented move, two women officers — Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh — joined Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri at the official press briefing. No questions were allowed — just facts. The image of female officers standing shoulder to shoulder with the Foreign Secretary sent a clear message to Pakistan and the world: India doesn’t just defend its honour — it redefines it.

The operation continues as we speak. Artillery duels have intensified along the LOC. Tragically, Indian civilians have suffered casualties. But there is a grim acceptance: Peace cannot be purchased with inaction.

In Pakistan, the military leadership is under scrutiny. General Asim Munir, described by defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqa as a “non-thinking General”, appears driven more by religious dogma than by strategic pragmatism. He aspires to surpass the legacies of his predecessors — General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf, both born in India before Partition. However, while Zia and Musharraf mixed strategy with ideology, Munir leans heavily on faith and rhetoric.

It’s in this dangerous cocktail of ego, ideology, and escalation that regional peace is being tested.

The battle today isn’t just on land or across borders. It’s also ideological. It’s about what sacrifice means, what justice looks like, and how nations respond to loss.

The name Operation Sindoor isn’t just symbolic. In Hindu tradition, sindoor (vermilion) is worn by married women—a sign of commitment, identity, and continuity of life. By invoking this symbol in a military operation, India flipped the narrative. What was targeted — the husbands, the family unit, and the religious identity — is what India rose to defend, not with grief but with grit.

The message is clear: India will not be cowed — not by bullets, not by threats, and certainly not by old nuclear bluffs.

Pakistan’s response is inevitable. When and how remains to be seen. The Indian Defence Forces, however, are fully prepared, both strategically and tactically, to respond to further provocation. But New Delhi has made it clear — this isn’t about escalation for its own sake. It’s about drawing a line that, if crossed again, will be answered with steel.

The world will watch, but India will act — not for spectacle but justice. And in memory of those who died with faith in their hearts and sindoor on their side.

The writer served in the Indian Army, Armoured Corps, 65 Armoured Regiment