The Operation Sindoor has proved to be bigger and bolder than the punitive military strikes that India carried out in 2016 and 2019 in territories under Pakistan’s control. In each case, the trigger was a dastardly terror attack — in Uri and Pulwama earlier and in Pahalgam the last month — that stemmed from the so-called policy of “bleeding India by a thousand cuts”, institutionalised by the Pakistani military bosses through a maze of terror outfits created, cultivated and cultured over decades.

Pakistan launched an attack on India after the post-Pulwama pre-emptive strike by India in Pakistani province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Balakot. The dogfight tested the aerial combat readiness of the two forces in quick time, in which Indian forces reportedly shot down, not acknowledged by Pakistan, a fighter jet, and in the process lost a Mig aircraft, whose pilot Abhinandan Varthaman ejected safely but landed on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC). Pakistan projects his landing and subsequent custody by its military as a badge of honour. His release was seen as a major victory of India’s muscular diplomacy.