Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Operation Sindoor and the Aftermath

This event is part of the series “The Neighbourhood Scope,” a monthly feature of the Strategic Studies Programme that intends to rekindle key conversations, questions, and debates concerning India’s neighbourhood.

India and Pakistan are on the brink of war again. On May 10, three days after India’s launch of Operation Sindoor, the two sides agreed to stop all firing and military action on land, in the air and at sea. A few hours later, that ceasefire was violated by Pakistan. Since the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, relations between the two countries have deteriorated. In the aftermath of the attacks, as the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba affiliated The Resistance Front took responsibility for the attack, India has begun to target Pakistan’s terror ecosystem and infrastructure. Since then, tensions have escalated, and cross-border shelling has increased- with Pakistan targeting civilian and military infrastructure in the border states of India.

How do you perceive the ceasefire violations by Pakistan? What options does New Delhi have vis-à-vis responding to Pakistan, be it in the form of state-sponsored terrorism or military action against India? What change can we see in India’s long-term approach towards Pakistan? How will punitive diplomatic actions against Pakistan evolve in the future? What role do external players have in this evolving scenario? Where does the insurgency in Kashmir go from here? What does this conflict tell us about the future of warfare and India’s capabilities?