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First Post
4 hours ago
- Politics
- First Post
Operation Sindoor: For India, deterrence lies in hard military power
Operation Sindoor has proved that conventional power, wielded with precision, can eliminate threats and convey a message without the attendant fear of a mushroom cloud read more From Left to Right: Air Marshal AK Bharti, Director General (DG) of Air Force Operations, DG of Military Operations Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, and DG of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral AN Pramod at a press briefing for Operation Sindoor. May 11, 2025. File image. After 88 hours of clinical and precision strikes, the Indian Armed Forces, who had been given full 'operational freedom', achieved their objectives in a calibrated, controlled and decisive manner. What also stood out in an era of unending conflicts was the wise drawing of a finish line. Operation 'Sindoor' represented an evolution in our war-fighting doctrine, showcasing the capability and ability of our Armed Forces. There was a marked escalation in the scope, intensity and precision targeting compared to India's earlier responses to terror attacks. Soon after the prime minister articulated India's 'new normal'. The doctrine was clear and unambiguous. This watershed moment marked the unveiling of a new national security posture, one that treats state-sponsored terrorism as an act of war. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Parliament, Mumbai, Pathankot, Uri, Pulwama and now Pahalgam all had one thing in common: Pakistan's use of terror as an instrument of state policy, but now the Indian armed forces had drawn the 'sindoor line' and targeted terror sites in the heartland of Pakistani Punjab, literally going for Pakistan's 'jugular'. The fact is that India's actions were aimed at forcing Pakistan to change its behaviour as far as using terrorism as an instrument of state policy is concerned. The question remains as to whether our political will and military action have ensured deterrence. Understanding Deterrence The challenge of deterrence, implying discouraging states from taking unwanted actions, especially military aggression, is a principal theme of a nation's defence policy. In his press briefing after the initial operation, the Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri stated that Pakistan's failure 'to take action against the terrorist infrastructure on its territory' necessitated a military operation 'to deter and to preempt'. Deterrence can be further amplified as the practice of discouraging or restraining someone in world politics, usually a nation-state, from taking unwanted actions. It involves an effort to stop or prevent an action, as opposed to the closely related but distinct concept of 'compellence', which is an effort to force it to do something. If a state considers attacking an adversary but refrains due to concern over that adversary's military power, it has been deterred. Deterrence typically takes two forms: deterrence by denial and deterrence by punishment. Deterrence by denial strategies seeks to deter an action by making it infeasible or unlikely to succeed, thus denying a potential aggressor confidence in attaining its objectives by deploying sufficient local military forces to defeat a design, in other words, convincing an adversary that its attack would be unsuccessful because it would be physically blocked. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Whereas deterrence by punishment, on the other hand, threatens severe penalties if an attack occurs. It is based on the threat of imposing costs through retaliation. Steps taken include placing significant military capabilities directly in the path of an aggressor, which speaks loudly and clearly. Deterrence is usually unnoticed by the public since it is about preventing aggression rather than taking visible action. However, crises reveal where and how deterrence is failing or succeeding, since visible military decisions are now made public. India earlier deterred terror attacks attributed to militants based in Pakistan by threatening a conventional military response. Following the Parliament attack India mobilized its troops all across the border with Pakistan. As per Jaswant Singh 'the objective of India's mobilisation was to defeat cross border terrorism and infiltration without conflict'. Pakistan, in turn, looked to prevent retaliatory conventional military action through the threat of nuclear weapons. The fact is that if these terrorist incidents keep happening at a regular pace followed by India's retaliation, it suggests there were gaps in deterrence. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The failure of deterrence has led to leaders and policymakers sometimes referring to military operations as being designed to 'restore deterrence'. However, even this can be a misleading phrase, as Professor Debak Das of the University of Denver states, 'There may be something wrong with the method of deterrence'. Over the coming weeks and months, analysts and policymakers will assess how successful both sides' military operations were in restoring deterrence, a key question with the potential to shape regional security dynamics going forward. Nuclear Deterrence The most powerful deterrent a state can possess is nuclear weapons. Soon after the development of nuclear weapons, scholars argued that these capabilities were so powerful that no two nuclear-armed states would dare to fight one another. In other words, they would be deterred from doing so. But while nuclear weapons may ensure stable deterrence at the strategic or nuclear level, instability and conflict are likely to occur at lower levels because both sides believe in controlling escalation till that point. This led to Pakistan feeling there was space to conduct a sub-conventional proxy war against India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD India has taken action to punish Pakistan militarily in response to terror attacks. Notable examples have included Operation Parakram in 2001; the development of the Cold Start military doctrine intended to quickly capture territory to extract concessions; 'surgical strikes' across the Line of Control in 2016; and the airstrike at Balakot in 2019. Each response pushed the envelope further both vertically and horizontally, displaying the ability to impose costs within a nuclear overhang. Following Pahalgam, India dramatically increased the scope of its military action against Pakistan in response to terrorism. This represented an expansion in its willingness to conduct conventional operations beneath the nuclear threshold. Operation Sindoor has proved that conventional power, wielded with precision, can eliminate threats and convey a message without the attendant fear of a mushroom cloud. Pakistan's military-backed terrorist groups would no longer be able to operate with impunity, secure in the knowledge that India won't risk nuclear escalation. Pakistan's space for nuclear deterrence has been shrunk due to India's non-contact kinetic actions facilitated by newer technologies. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Escalation During Operation Sindoor What was witnessed were multiple rounds of retaliation, including strikes on major military bases, and the use of capabilities never previously employed between the two countries. On the opening day of strikes, the Indian Armed Forces demonstrated the ability to identify and destroy terrorist-linked infrastructure in Pakistani territory, employing stand-off weapons to deliver precision strikes at speed without crossing the international border. The intent was clear: India was focused on degrading the terrorist ecosystem that exists in Pakistan. In the following days, operations expanded in scope, as Pakistan chose to retaliate, and India then penetrated Pakistan's Chinese-supplied air defence network to target selected airbases for the first time since the 1971 war. Further India's multi-layered air defence ensured the security of Indian airspace by eliminating Pakistani drones and missiles. Operation Sindoor was a calibrated use of force, intended to signal resolve, degrade terrorist infrastructure, demonstrate capability, and impose costs for supporting terrorism. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Escalation control depends on taking carefully calibrated actions in the fog of war. As per Walter Ladwig of RUSI, 'This conflict illustrates that limited military engagement under the shadow of nuclear weapons can be contained provided escalation thresholds are mutually understood, signalling remains disciplined, and objectives are narrowly defined.' Application of Military Power Operation Sindoor demonstrated India's ability to apply military power with restraint and precision. India's signal of intent to retaliate against cross-border terrorism marks a clear shift in posture. Yet deterrence by punishment carries inherent risks – chief among them the possibility that fringe actors may attempt to provoke confrontation in order to manipulate state responses. Hence, in a strategic environment shaped by tempo, perception, and public pressure, preserving space for discretion may be as vital as projecting resolve, particularly when domestic audiences may expect increasingly forceful responses in the wake of future provocations. Equally salient is the operational challenge of maintaining the effectiveness of coercive military action over time. As targeted groups adapt, dispersing their assets, improving their concealment techniques, and altering their operational rhythms, the demands placed on India's intelligence and targeting means will intensify. An iterative contest of adaptation may also play out in which each side seeks to outpace the other's capacity for detection and response. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Conclusion As the damage to Pakistani assets increased and their vulnerabilities were exposed, the Pakistani DGMO reached out over the hotline to his Indian counterpart in asking for a ceasefire. There was no doubt that India had achieved its stated objectives. Its decisive response was not a product of improvisation but due to the professionalism of Indian armed forces and the result of structural reforms and investment in India's defence capabilities to include doctrines, weapon systems and infusion of cutting-edge technologies. The contours of its response toolkit had been redefined. The instrument of force was now more calibrated and precise. There is no doubt that in future, India's response in degrading assets enabling terrorism will be of a greater magnitude. Given the fact that India was able to use force over a long trajectory and attack Pakistan at will with precision and lethality, degrading its capabilities. One of the lessons that stands out is that hard power matters, though building deterrence through hard power may be costly, but wars are even more costly, which is a lesson Europe is facing presently, having prematurely celebrated victory at the end of the Cold War by downsizing military structures and capabilities. Hence, there needs to be an urgency while addressing military imbalances, as despite being tactically and operationally successful, we cannot afford to be prone to coercion. Hard military power is the key. While India has demonstrated its muscular policy, the instrument of force needs to be continuously nourished to ensure that it always retains the element of deterrence. The author is a retired Major General of the Indian Army. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
India Today
5 hours ago
- General
- India Today
Pakistani dossier claims India hit more places. Propaganda?
While there has been a halt to hostilities between India and Pakistan following the May 10 truce, Islamabad seems to not have ceased what it does best: spreading propaganda. A dossier released by Pakistan, accessed by India Today, reveals India struck more places during Operation Sindoor that were not previously disclosed by Indian defence authorities. However, the devil lies in the dossier contains maps showing Indian strikes at key cities like Peshawar, Attock, Gujrat, Jhang, Bahawalnagar, Hyderabad, Chhor - locations that were not publicly mentioned by the armed forces during their press briefings. Some sites like Peshawar and Attock are over 1,000 km and 700 km away from the Line of Control. It begs a question. Why would Pakistan make public that India struck more sites than claimed?The broader objective might be to paint before the global community that India targeted civilian areas deep inside Pakistan. The dossier, however, does not mention if the targeted sites were civilian areas or military the sites were military bases, it sheds new light on the depth of India's attack, making it abundantly clear why Pakistan reached out for a ceasefire on May armed forces have mentioned on several occassions that they operated with precision to avoid civilian casualties. "Locations were selected to avoid damage to civilian infrastructure and loss of any civilian lives," the forces dossier specifically lists that only four air bases were targeted - Murid, Rafiqui, Masroor, and high-resolution commercial satellite images have shown damage to 11 military sites struck by India, including Nur Khan, Rafiqui, Murid, Sukkur, Parur, Chunian, Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan, Bholari, Jacobabad, and the three-day hostilities, India also struck a radar site in Lahore, destroying an air defence system, and targeted the missile site at Malir Cantonment in Karachi. Malir Cantt is a military base about 35 km from the main Karachi General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt. General Rajiv Ghai has stated that around 35-40 Pakistani military personnel were killed during Operation has also released video evidence of the nine terror camps it destroyed when it launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack. The sites include the Jaish-e-Mohammed headquarters in Bahawalpur and the Lashkar-e-Taiba training centre in Watch
The Print
3 days ago
- Business
- The Print
LAC tensions, China aiding Pakistan's WMD ambitions—what US flagged in annual worldwide threat report
The report says Pakistan perceives India as an 'existential threat' and will continue to pursue its military 'modernisation effort, including the development of battlefield nuclear weapons, to offset India's conventional military advantage'. The report, released earlier this month, also said sometimes these supplies are transshipped through Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. New Delhi: Pakistan almost 'certainly procures' foreign materials and technology for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) from foreign suppliers and intermediaries, 'very likely acquired primarily from suppliers in China', the United States' Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has said in its 2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment report. The report has further said the 'ongoing tensions along India and China's Line of Actual Control border demarcation are capable of escalating quickly'. Referring to the troop disengagement in Depsang and Demchok in Eastern Ladakh in October last year, it says 'the disengagement did not resolve the longstanding dispute about border demarcation but reduced some tension still lingering' since the 2020 Galwan clash, with India considering China its 'primary adversary' and viewing Pakistan as 'an ancillary security problem to be managed despite cross-border attacks in mid-May by both India's and Pakistan's militaries'. Notably, Pakistan deployed Chinese-supplied fighters such as JF-17 and J10C, PL-15E beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) against India during the military hostilities between 7 and 10 May. Besides, multiple reports indicate that Pakistan is expected to receive the fifth-generation J-35A fighter jet from China later this year. Subsequently, the assessment states that Pakistan 'primarily is a recipient' of Beijing's 'economic and military largesse' and its forces conduct multiple military exercises with Chinese forces every year. 'Foreign materials and technology supporting Pakistan's WMD programs are very likely acquired primarily from suppliers in China and sometimes are transshipped through Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates,' the report said. India had launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of 7 May, targeting nine terror training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The strikes came in retaliation to the 22 April terror attack in Pahalgam, carried out by terrorists trained and backed by Pakistan, which claimed the lives of 26 tourists. Pakistan reached out to Indian Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai 10 May to propose cessation of hostilities. The report released just the day after describes the escalation in detail, stating it included 'rounds of missile, drone and loitering munition attacks, and heavy artillery fire, by both militaries from 7 to 10 May'. Also Read:All about J-35A, the Chinese fifth-generation stealth fighter Pakistan plans to acquire On China A substantive portion of the DIA report focuses on China's rapid military and nuclear modernisation. The report estimates that China's operational nuclear warhead count has surpassed 600 and could exceed 1,000 by 2030. These warheads will 'be maintained at higher readiness levels to enable faster response times during conflicts,' it adds. On countering Beijing's expanding influence, it says that India is 'boosting its global leadership role' by advancing bilateral defence partnerships in the Indian Ocean region and increasing its participation in multilateral forums. These include the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) with the US, Australia and Japan; the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa); the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The paper also highlights India's strengthening of its nuclear triad and deterrence capabilities in 2024 by 'conducting the test of the nuclear-capable Agni-I Prime medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) and the Agni-V multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle while also commissioning its second nuclear-powered submarine'. India had commissioned its second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), INS Arighaat, in August last year. The DIA further outlines India's focus on building indigenous defence capabilities through the 'Make in India' initiative, aimed at modernising the armed forces and mitigating supply chain risks. The assessment also says that, despite a reduction in arms procurement from Moscow, India will maintain its relationship with Russia 'since it views its ties to Russia as important for achieving its economic and defence objectives'. It adds that India continues to rely on 'Russian-origin spare parts to sustain a significant portion of its tank and fighter aircraft inventory', which has been described as 'the backbone of its military's ability to counter perceived threats from China and Pakistan'. (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also Read: India used this battlefield hack to keep Soviet-era missile systems firing against Pakistan in Op Sindoor
Time of India
7 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
India, Pakistan discuss border issues in DGMO talks
L-R) DGMO Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, Air Marshal AK Bharti and Vice Admiral AN Pramod during the press conference on 'Operation Sindoor', in New Delhi on Monday. (ANI Photo) NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan on Tuesday conducted their weekly talks through the hotline between the offices of the rival DGMOs, during which "border management issues" were discussed in line with the ongoing truce along the border. "They were routine talks that take place between middle-rung officers through the DGMO hotline every Tuesday," an officer said. The two armies are discussing "measures to ensure troop reduction from the borders and forward areas" after Indian DGMO Lt-General Rajiv Ghai and his Pakistani counterpart Major General Kashif Abdullah reached the understanding on May 10 to cease cross-border hostilities which had started on May 7. The two sides are also continuing with their confidence building measures to progressively reduce the "high alertness levels" between the rival militaries to ensure that neither side "fires or initiates any aggressive and inimical action", as reported by TOI earlier. India has repeatedly stressed that the ongoing understanding, which came into effect at 5 pm on May 10 after India's deep precision strikes on nine Pakistani airbases as well as a few radar sites earlier that day, is conditional and depends on Islamabad's behaviour. "If Pakistan's behaviour improves, it is fine. But if there is any disturbance, harshest punishment will be given," defence minister Rajnath Singh had said. In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack , Pakistan had moved several reserve army formations, tanks and Chinese-made SH-15 self-propelled 155mm howitzers closer to the Line of Control as well as the international border. India had further carried out some forward deployments, which included the multi-layered air defence network that eventually thwarted the waves of drones and some missiles unleashed by Pakistan against Indian civilian and military targets.
News18
27-05-2025
- Politics
- News18
Amid Tensions With Pakistan, BSF To Get Makeover With New 'Digital Print' Uniform For All Ranks
Last Updated: In a significant move reflecting operational readiness and modernisation, the BSF – the second largest Central Armed Police Force – will soon get a makeover with the introduction of a new uniform for all its personnel. The implementation comes at a time of heightened tension along the Indo-Pakistan border, following a series of escalatory incidents by the neighbouring country. The updated uniform, which includes both combat and daily wear, will be rolled out across all theatres of deployment in coming weeks. According to sources, digital camouflage patterns have been finalised and approved, and implementation will begin immediately in a phased manner. The move to digital print aligns the Border Security Force (BSF) with global standards and also follows the Indian Army's transition to a digital pattern uniform last year, developed in collaboration with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). Digital prints are significantly harder to replicate, which is a key concern for security forces. 'The disruptive design patterns are pixelated in multiple colours, making them extremely difficult to copy or counterfeit," said a senior official involved in the approval process. The uniform will use a blend of cotton and 20 per cent polyester, offering durability and comfort across varied climates. The BSF was widely praised for its role in the recent military standoff with Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged the force's valour and said: 'I salute every individual of the air force, navy, army, and BSF. Their courage is the armour of our sovereignty." In a rare joint briefing, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai highlighted the BSF's contributions. 'BSF was an equal participant in our response. From their DG to their Prahari at the BOP – they stood shoulder to shoulder with us," he said. A senior official said specialised BSF units will also transition to the new uniform over the coming months. Officials said the new patterns not only meet operational demands but also reflect the evolving face of India's frontline forces. With tensions simmering along the western front, the uniform revamp signals both preparedness and a push for modernisation within India's security framework. During wartime, the BSF operationally comes under the Indian Army and works as per the ground requirement. What makes the recent operation stand out is that it was achieved without any reinforcement or additional deployment. Even while guarding four states – Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir – the BSF managed critical operations and retaliations against Pakistan with no additional manpower. On May 9, in response to unprovoked Pakistani firing on BSF posts in Jammu, the force struck deep, destroying a terrorist launchpad at Looni in Pakistan's Sialkot district, inflicting a significant blow to enemy infrastructure. First Published: May 27, 2025, 07:00 IST
