New India, New Rules: Operation Sindoor & Modi's Doctrine Put Pakistan On Notice

News18

13-05-2025

Last Updated:
A rogue nation has been shaken, their military humbled.
The night skies over Pakistan since May 7 bore witness to a truth so profound, so paradigm-shifting, that its tremors will be felt for generations. This was not merely a retaliatory pinprick; this was the roar of a resurgent India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unequivocally declaring that the era of its strategic patience with Pakistan-sponsored terror is decisively over. In a stunning display of precision, audacity, and unwavering resolve, Operation Sindoor struck at the very core of Pakistan's military nerve and its terror-industrial complex. It left the Pakistani establishment exposed, rattled, and desperately scrambling for a global intervention to stop India.
For the first time since the ignominious surrender of 1971, which bisected their nation, generations of Pakistanis, long fed a diet of jingoistic superiority and religious fanaticism by their military masters, witnessed the unthinkable: their country's most fortified military strongholds and urban centres under direct, sustained, and punishing Indian fire. Operation Sindoor was certainly not a mere symbolic gesture.
Indian strike packages, flying with impunity, systematically targeted eleven high-worth air bases across the length and breadth of Pakistan – from Shorkot to Sargodha, from Kamra to Jacobabad. These weren't just airfields; they were the frontline bastions of Pakistan's air defence. In a matter of hours, their operational capabilities were crippled, their runways cratered, their hardened aircraft shelters breached, making any emergency mobilisation of fighter aircraft a logistical nightmare, if not an impossibility.
As Indian firepower lit up their skies, an undeniable reality dawned upon the average Pakistani, a reality starkly different from the fabricated narratives peddled relentlessly by their state machinery. The psychological scar of that night runs deep, a visceral understanding that the sanctuary their territory once offered to terrorists targeting India is now definitively, and violently, over. The illusion of invulnerability, so carefully cultivated for decades by the Rawalpindi GHQ, was shattered into a million pieces under the weight of Indian ordnance.
The sheer scale and audacity of Operation Sindoor sent Pakistan's military chief, General Asim Munir, into a tailspin of panic. Reports emerged of frantic calls to world capitals, not with defiance, but with desperate pleas, begging the international community to intervene and 'stop India." Having catastrophically failed to deter or defend, Munir resorted to the only card Pakistan has ever played with any conviction: the nuclear bluff. Warnings were issued, threats were made, the spectre of nuclear annihilation was dangled before the world, hoping to cow India into submission.
But this is a New India, an India led by Narendra Modi, who understands that such bluffs, when repeatedly called, lose all currency. With the world watching, and Pakistan flashing its nuclear card with trembling hands, India doubled down. In broad daylight, further waves of Indian aircraft revisited key Pakistani air bases, delivering yet more punishing blows. The message was an electric shock to the Pakistani system and a clear signal to the global community: India will not be deterred by nuclear blackmail when its national security is at stake. The bluff had been called, spectacularly and humiliatingly.
Striking at Terror's Fountainheads, Exposing ISI Lies
Operation Sindoor was not limited to degrading Pakistan's conventional military capabilities. It struck at the very fountainheads of its terror enterprise. The infamous nerve centres of Pakistani terrorism in Muridke, the global headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Bahawalpur, the bastion of Jaish-e-Mohammed, were precisely targeted. These sprawling complexes, long considered untouchable sanctuaries by their ISI handlers, felt the full wrath of Indian resolve. The message was clear: those who plot, train, and launch terror against India will find no safe haven, no matter how deep within Pakistani territory they hide.
Furthermore, in a move demonstrating both India's capability and its nuanced approach, specific religious seminaries and madrassas were also neutralised. This was not an attack on faith, but a surgical strike against terror infrastructure masquerading as religious instruction.
This bold action sent a dual message to the world: firstly, India will not shy away from striking at the roots of terror, wherever they may be embedded. Secondly, by focusing only on those facilities directly involved in the terror pipeline, India signalled that its fight is with terrorism, not with the broader religious life of Pakistan, thereby pre-empting Pakistani attempts to portray India's actions as an attack on Islam itself. It was a message of precision: India will not, as a matter of course, hit generalised indoctrination centres, but will show no mercy to those actively weaponising faith to breed terrorists.
Predictably, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's notorious deep state, went into overdrive.
Their propaganda wing, well-versed in the art of deception, frantically spun their usual tapestry of lies, attempting comical denials and conjuring false victories from the ashes of their profound humiliation. Yet, for all their efforts, they continue to underestimate the intelligence of their own people. While the state-controlled media parroted the official line, ordinary Pakistanis, who saw the flashes, heard the roars of Indian might, and felt the tremors of impact, are no longer so easily fooled. The terrifying reality they experienced firsthand cannot be erased by official diktats. The world, too, watched, not in disbelief, but in acknowledgement of India's transformed capabilities and newfound political will.
Modi's Doctrine: A New Red Line Drawn in Fire
This new reality was not left to interpretation. Prime Minister Modi, in his landmark address to the nation on May 12th, articulated India's new Pakistan doctrine with chilling clarity and unequivocal terms. The era of calibrated responses and strategic restraint in the face of grave provocation is over. He laid it bare: any future terror attack against India, with even a shred of linkage to Pakistani soil or its proxies, will not merely invite retaliation; it will be met with an open declaration of war against the state of Pakistan. The message, delivered with the full force of India's conviction following the success of Operation Sindoor, is unambiguous: the cost of sponsoring terror against India will now be an existential one for Pakistan.
Operation Sindoor was more than just a military strike; it was the physical manifestation of India's new doctrine, a doctrine of proactive defence and credible deterrence. Prime Minister Modi has demonstrated that India's patience has limits, and its response will be swift, decisive, and overwhelming. Pakistan has been served notice; in a language it cannot feign to misunderstand. The old rules are gone. India has drawn a new red line – not in ink, but in fire, and its name is accountability. The boss has spoken, and the message has been delivered.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views.
tags :
Narendra Modi Operation Sindoor pakistan Straight Talk
Location :
New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
May 13, 2025, 15:04 IST
News opinion Straight Talk | New India, New Rules: Operation Sindoor & Modi's Doctrine Put Pakistan On Notice