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First Post
17-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Operation Sindoor: Modi's paradigm shift in India's national security strategy
With Operation Sindoor, India's global image of a soft state has finally shattered, and a new, assertive India acting without qualms, scepticism, and hesitations in using force against its adversaries has solidified read more In his speech on May 12, PM Narendra Modi categorically reiterated India's position that terror and talks cannot go together. Representational Image: FP On April 22, the tourist city of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed one of the most horrific genocides, with the brutal murder of 26 Hindu men. Reportedly, four terrorists of The Resistance Force (TRF), a Pakistan-sponsored terrorist group, forced tourists to demonstrate their religious identity by reciting Qalima at gunpoint and selectively killed Hindus. The brutality shook the entire world. On the night of May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor in retaliation, bombing nine sites holding 'terrorist infrastructure', five in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and four in the Pakistan mainland, including Jaish-e-Mohammad's Bahawalpur complex and Lashkar-e-Taiba's Muridke headquarters. India smashed the terror camps, training centres, and launch pads of Pakistan's three key proxy terror outfits, ie, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Muhammad, and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Following India's attack, Pakistan launched a full-fledged attack on India, targeting multiple cities, military installations, and airbases across the entire Western border with drones. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On the Line of Control (LoC), the Pakistani army began firing and heavy shelling with the artillery guns, killing 15 civilians in the Rajouri border region. In the counterattack, India attacked Pakistan's strategically sensitive six air bases and dropped bombs in mainland cities like Lahore and Rawalpindi. Pakistan's nuclear-capable Fatah missile launched at Delhi was intercepted by India's Akash at Sirsa near Delhi. The war was gaining momentum; however, it halted with a sudden and unexpected ceasefire apparently achieved with US facilitation. Setting a New Normal With Operation Sindoor, India has set a 'new normal' against terror, explicitly signalling the three-point doctrinal shift – zero tolerance and direct retaliation for terror attacks, no differentiation between the terrorists and their sponsors, and refusal to succumb to Pakistan's nuclear blackmail. In his speech on May 12, PM Narendra Modi categorically reiterated India's position that terror and talks cannot go together. Further, he also emphasised that 'terror' and 'trade' cannot go together, and 'blood' and 'water' cannot flow together. The PM's speech signifies a resolute, determined, and tough stance against terror. PM Modi's speech gives a clear message that India will decisively hit terror targets in direct retaliation if Pakistan continues to support terror groups in Kashmir and the Indian hinterland. Also, it is worth mentioning that hitting deep inside the Pakistani territory at Bahawalpur and Muridke has completely altered the dynamics, showcasing India's unrestrained approach while retaliating. Pakistan will have to pay unbearable costs for terror attacks. Contrary to the dominant analytical discourse around Operation Sindoor, it is worth mentioning that India had already set a new normal when it conducted the Uri surgical strike in 2016. Following that, once again, Indian jets bombed Jaish training centres in Balakot in 2019 after JeM killed 42 Indian soldiers in the Pulwama fidayeen attack. Continuing its war against terror, India abrogated Article 370 of its constitution that conferred special status to J&K. With its massive crackdown on the terror ecosystem inside its borders and tough stance against foreign terror sponsors, it was expected that Delhi would retaliate with tremendous firepower if Islamabad ever conducted a terror attack of the scale of Pulwama. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD India has decisively and demonstrably called out Pakistan's nuclear bluff. In his May 12 speech, PM Modi said, 'India will strike precisely and decisively at the terrorist hideouts developing under the cover of nuclear blackmail.' Pakistan, emboldened with its nuclear shield, intensified terror activities in Kashmir after 1998. This nuclear blackmail continued unabated for 18 years until 2016, when it was first punctured by the Uri surgical strikes. With the Balakot strikes, the message was clear to Pakistan that India will not be cowed down by its nuclear threats; however, General Headquarters (GHQ) Rawalpindi refused to smell the coffee. Finally, India's aggressive retaliatory posture seen in Operation Sindoor, killing more than 80 terrorists, has made Pakistan's nuclear arsenal a dysfunctional and ineffective tool to continue shielding its terrorist activities in India. The Operation Sindoor comes in succession to a series of the Modi government's tough national security measures. In the domestic domain, the Modi government took bold actions against the terror ecosystem, the Waqf board, foreign NGOs, and illegal immigrants. In the external domain, New Delhi took decisive cross-border military actions against Pakistan, maintained a firm stand against China after the Galwan clash, and reportedly, Indian intelligence agencies neutralised many Khalistani and Jihadi terrorists in foreign territory. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Over the last ten years, India has signalled a robust and decisive diplomatic signature in its dealings with the West and the Arab world after the abrogation of Article 370, hosting global events like the G20, guarding its strategic autonomy in the Russia-Ukraine war, playing hardball with the Maldives after its China switch, and emerging as a leader in the battle against extremism and terrorism. With Operation Sindoor, India's global image of a soft state has finally shattered, and a new, assertive India acting without qualms, scepticism, and hesitations in using force against its adversaries has solidified. The author is a Cornell University graduate in public affairs, bachelors from St Stephen's College, Delhi and has done his PhD on Jaish-e-Mohammad. He is a policy analyst specialising in counterterrorism, Indian foreign policy and Afghanistan-Pakistan geopolitics. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Economic Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Pakistan Army deploys Chinese artillery closer to LoC & IB, indicate reports
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads New Delhi: A day after ' Operation Sindoor ' in which more than 100 terrorists were neutralised by security forces, multiple reports have now emerged pointing to the deployment of Chinese artillery, namely SH-15, by the Pakistan Army, security officials aware of the matter said. The systems have been deployed closer to the International Border and Line of Control (LoC), they to reports, the SH-15 was inducted by the People Liberation Army between 2018 and 2020 and has since been exported to several countries, including Pakistan, which signed a contract in 2019 for the delivery of 236 SH-15 artillery systems. The SH-15 systems have a wide range of ammunition, including precision-guided munition developed by Norinco that can achieve a maximum range of 53 km with rocket-assisted projectiles. Chinese defence company, Norinco, has been banned in United Army had, in the past too, procured Chinese equipment such as satellite phones and provided them to terrorists in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) which were later found to be active in Jammu and Kashmir. Several Chinese equipment such as satellite phones and Chinese apps and navigation systems were being used by foreign militants in Jammu and Kashmir , added another official. The fresh assessment carried out by various security agencies has pegged the number of foreign militants in the border state to more than 75 militants. The presence of foreign militants, despite the Army and Border Security Force (BSF) claiming "zero infiltration", has been a cause of concern among the security the active foreign militants, most of them are affiliated to LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen . All the three groups have been banned by the Union home ministry under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967."Lashkar has the largest presence of militants in the valley and its offshoot The Resistance Force (TRF) has been involved in several attacks on security personnel and civilians in the past. It came into existence in 2019 and has been banned under UAPA," explained another have so far not ruled out the involvement of the same group from The Resistance Force (TRF) which had been earlier involved in the 2023 Dangri attack and the 2024 Reasi bus attack. They however said that there is no clear breakthrough into the identity of attackers involved in the Pahalgam attack."TRF, which later backtracked their claim on the Pahalgam attack, seems to have done so due to pressure from Pakistan. They are very much active online and their identity will be revealed soon," explained an official.
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'Have not escalated, only responded to Pahalgam Attack': Foreign secretary Vikram Misri
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel New Delhi: Foreign secretary Vikram Misri on Thursday put the onus of de-escalation on Pakistan, saying India had only responded to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack "Our approach is not to escalate the situation, we only responded to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack," he said at a media briefing. "Pakistan escalated the situation, we only responded. Choice is with Pakistan."The foreign secretary, flanked by Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofia Qureshi, said at the UNSC meeting , Pakistan opposed any mention of the role of terrorist group The Resistance Force , which had already claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack."This is a group that is a known front for the well-known Pakistan-based terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba . The group has been reported earlier. I mentioned to you about Indian authorities providing information to the UN 1267 Sanctions Monitoring Committee . In fact, we are going to be meeting with the team again and we will be providing an update to the information that we have provided earlier," he also said that Pakistan's retaliatory actions were impacting civilians, referring to the intensified firing from across LoC in J&K."Pakistan's reputation as the epicentre of global terrorism is rooted in a number of instances... I don't need to remind where Osama Bin Laden was found and who called him a martyr. Pakistan is also home to a large number of UN-proscribed terrorists and also to terrorists proscribed by many countries," he said India's action on Wednesday was restrained and confined to terrorist infrastructure The foreign secretary dismissed Pakistan's claims of civilian casualties during India's cross-border strikes . "If any civilians were killed, what message does it send when their coffins are draped in Pakistani flags and given state honours? As far as we are concerned, those eliminated were terrorists," he Pakistan's claim that religious sites were hit, Misri said, "This is completely false. Our targets were terrorist locations. On the contrary, it was Pakistan that hit Sikh community areas in J&K's Poonch."Regarding the Indus Waters Treaty , he said while India honoured the agreement for more than six decades, Pakistan "has been acting in violation of the treaty by deliberately creating roadblocks".Misri said "this is a country that started lying as soon as it was born".
Mint
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
India warns Pakistan against escalation amid heightened tension; de-escalation up to you, Misri tells Islamabad
Any further military action by Pakistan is nothing but escalation and will be responded to appropriately, foreign secretary Vikram Misri warned on Thursday, adding the choice to de-escalate "is with Pakistan'. Misri's grim warning came amid heightened tension and continuing shelling by Pakistan across the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir. Misri said the original escalation came with the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, and that India was responding in restrained manner. "Our approach is not to escalate the situation, we only responded to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack," he said. 'Any further action by Pakistan, some of which we are seeing today, is nothing but escalation by Pakistan once again, and will be responded to and is being responded to appropriately.' On de-escalation of the situation, Misri said, "Pakistan escalated the situation, we only responded. Choice is with Pakistan." He said at the United Nations Security Council meeting following the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan opposed any mention of the role of terror group The Resistance Force when it had already claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 26 people. The foreign secretary, flanked by Wing Cdr Vyomika Singh and Col Sofia Qureshi, said Pakistan's actions are impacting civilians in Jammu and Kashmir. Wing Cdr Singh said that Pakistan has increased unprovoked firing across the line of control. 'Pakistan has increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using mortars and heavy-calibre artillery in areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir,' she said. "Pakistan's reputation as the centre of global terrorism is rooted in various terrorist attacks across the globe," Misri said, pointing out that Islamabad has been pursuing cross-border terrorism against India for decades. He said India's action on Wednesday was restrained and confined to terrorist infrastructure. In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on terror targets including Bahawalpur, a stronghold of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group. On Thursday, the defence ministry said the Pakistani military on Wednesday night tried to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai and Bhuj but these attempts were foiled and a Pakistani air defence system was destroyed in Lahore. Misri reiterated that no Pakistani civilians were harmed in the Indian strikes under Operation Sindoor. On allegations regarding the targeting of a dam, Misri said it is 'an absolute fabrication and a blatant lie'. 'Claim is a pretext for targeting Indian infrastructure of similar nature. Pakistan will be entirely responsible for consequences if this happens,' Misri said. 'Pakistan's reputation as the epicentre of global terrorism is rooted in a number of instances... I don't need to remind where Osama Bin Laden was found and who called him a martyr,' he said. Pakistan is home to a large number of UN-proscribed terrorists and to terrorists proscribed by many countries, Misri said. "You must have seen in the last few days, their defence minister and former foreign minister accepted their country's involvement with such terror groups." Misri, in a sarcastic jibe, rebutted Pakistan's claims that they had shot down five Indian jets – three Rafale fighters, a MiG-29 and a Su-30 -- during retaliatory strikes following India's military operation. 'There is nothing surprising in it. After all, this is a country in which lies started as soon as it was born.' Pakistan's defence minister Khwaja Asif had cited social media as evidence of the alleged downing of Indian planes but failed to provide concrete proof when pressed, while India dismissed these claims as disinformation and pointed out that the images circulating were from previous unrelated incidents. Misri said, 'In 1947, when the Pakistani army claimed Jammu and Kashmir, they lied not to any random person but to the United Nations that we have nothing to do with it. So this journey started 75 years ago.' Misri junked Pakistan's claim that civilians were killed during India's Operation Sindoor citing the reported incident where designated terrorists attended the funeral of three terrorists killed in Wednesday morning's strikes. Mrisri held up the photo where Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a US-designated global terrorist and high-level Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, is purportedly seen leading funeral prayers for those killed in the Indian missile strikes. 'It's also odd that funerals of civilians are being carried out with coffins wrapped in their national flag, and state honours are being accorded. The individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists. Giving state funerals to terrorists may be a practice in Pakistan, but it doesn't seem to make much sense to us,' he said. The funeral, held on Wednesday in Muridke—approximately 40 kilometres from Lahore—was also attended by members of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the banned organization led by terror leader Hafiz Saeed. The three terrorists—Qari Abdul Malik, Khalid, and Mudassir—were killed in a targeted strike on terror group's headquarters in Muridke, carried out by Indian forces as part of 'Operation Sindoor,' according to news reports. The government has not officially released the names or numbers of the dead in the strike. 'We have made the point very clearly that all attacks on the morning of May 7 were against carefully selected terrorist infrastructure, terrorist targets. In fact, seeing some of the coverage of the after-effects of these strikes, including the funerals for the terrorists that are held yesterday, I think a lot of you have seen the reports and the coverage on media,' Misri said at the Thursday's presser. 'If only civilians, if any civilians were killed in these attacks, I wonder what message this picture actually sends to all of you. This is a question that is worth asking," he said.
The Hindu
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Choice of de-escalation is with Pakistan: Misri
The choice of de-escalation is with Pakistan as it escalated the situation with the Pahalgam terror attack and India only responded to it through Operation Sindoor, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Thursday (May 8, 2025). His comments at a media briefing came amid heightened tensions between the two countries. Operation Sindoor: Follow LIVE updates on May 8, 2025 Mr. Misri said escalation started from that side (Pakistan) with the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. 'Our approach is not to escalate the situation, we only responded to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack,' he said. On de-escalation of the situation, Mr. Misri said, 'Pakistan escalated the situation, we only responded. Choice is with Pakistan.' He said at the UNSC meeting, Pakistan opposed mention of the role of terror group The Resistance Force (TRF) when it had already claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack. The Foreign Secretary also said the retaliatory actions of Pakistan are impacting civilians, referring to firings along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. 'Pakistan's reputation as the centre of global terrorism is rooted in various terrorist attacks across the globe,' Mr. Misri, flanked by Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofia Qureshi, said, adding Pakistan has been pursuing cross-border terrorism against India for decades. He said India's action on Wednesday (May 7, 2025) was restrained and it was confined to terrorist infrastructure. In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces early Wednesday (May 7, 2025) carried out missile strikes on terror targets including Bahawalpur, a stronghold of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group. Also Read | Government advises OTT platforms to stop streaming Pakistan-origin content On Thursday (May 8, 2025), the Defence Ministry said the Pakistani military tried last night to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj but these attempts were foiled and a Pakistani air defence system was destroyed in Lahore. Mr. Misri also said Pakistan was deliberately creating roadblocks over the years on the Indus Waters Treaty issue.
