Opinion Express View: Operation Sindoor red lines

Ever since the terror strike in Pahalgam that cast a dark pall, followed by the stormy days after Operation Sindoor, till the pause in the firing, a nation held its breath. For the first time since 1971, people were witness to large-scale military engagement that threatened to create widening theatres of conflict with new-age warfare technologies. For the first time since ’71, there was shelling at the borders and also blackouts in cities. On Monday night, therefore, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation, it brought a much-needed sense of relief, and closure, even though the PM was careful not to declare victory, or announce an end to the flaring of hostilities: “… we have just suspended our retaliatory action against Pakistan’s terror and military camps”, he said. The moment was cathartic as PM Modi framed the big picture, connected the dots — between the terror camps in Bahawalpur and Muridke, among the nine sites in Pakistan that India targeted, and other terror outrages globally, like 9/11 and the London tube bombings. Between a secure nation and a prosperous one, between peace and strength. The goal of Viksit Bharat, he said, needs India to be powerful and to use this power when the situation requires it. Importantly, the PM drew a link between Operation Sindoor and “our unwavering commitment to justice”. He dedicated the soldier’s valour to “every mother, sister, daughter”, underlining the horror of a terror act in which men were killed, and their female relatives were forced to watch.

Significantly, after a strike in which the terrorists also selected their victims for their faith, PM Modi underlined the nation’s unity. “Our greatest strength is our unity…”, he said, and that the “entire nation, every citizen, every community, every class, every political party” spoke in one voice. This acknowledgement of a coming together, across faultlines and cleavages, is especially resonant. PM Modi recognised that, after Pahalgam, parties of the Opposition in a fractious polity set aside their issues and grievances and rallied behind the government and a shared national purpose. That the Opposition did so, and that the PM acknowledged it, is a valuable moment, and one to build on, when the external threat has dissipated.

Advertisement

India now faces the challenge of enforcing and managing the “new normal” with Pakistan, while navigating an international landscape where all the old signposts have been uprooted by the new turbulence that is rearranging trade and recasting diplomacy. As it does so, India will need to reinforce its intelligence and military capabilities — the PM emphasised that “the time has come for Made in India defence equipment”. But it will also have to do more. A country of India’s size and potential, its economy over 10 times that of Pakistan, cannot — and should not — have to depend only on the use of force to secure itself. Delhi can’t decide the pace at which Islamabad reforms or doesn’t. But it can, perhaps, start by thinking how it can influence it. In the days and months to come, that is the real challenge: To put together a wider arsenal, and a larger constellation of options, that can protect the country from its adversaries, and its growth story from being threatened.