Operation Sindoor: A decisive strike on terrorism, but its backers remain unfazed.

Exactly five days after my previous op-ed, lamenting at the lack of action by the Indian establishment to such a vile act of terror, a decisive act of retaliation was carried out by the Indian armed forces in the form of Operation Sindoor: a tri-service coordinated series of missile, drone and airstrikes across the length and breadth of Pakistan, hunting for the terrorists, and their hideouts in the terror state. Within minutes, many terror hideouts found themselves as no more than rubble, incapable of serving as launchpads for terror attacks against India for the foreseeable future.

The ensuing retaliations, escalations and broader conflict that lasted for four days, served as some of the most tense and heated times the country had seen since the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Drone swarms, missile strikes, naval threats, fighter jets, air defence, you name it, and it was on the cards. One could say that it was a war for all intents and purposes, in all but name.

India claims that it hit 9 terrorist camps across Pakistan, effectively killing 100 terrorists in the process. This signifies a shift in India's doctrine towards the challenge of cross-border terrorism. It doesn't fundamentally alter the dynamics or precedents set by the current administration in previous examples, but does definitely underscore the fact that there have been some perspective shifts, and tactical decisions taken by the government in this regard.

The most important of which, is India fundamentally entering a new consensus, dictated by a fundamental belief that there should be no difference made between the terrorists and their state backers. That is why, in this regard, India thought it appropriate to strike back on the escalation of the enemy military, despite the operation being focused solely on terrorists alone.

However, India still fails to capture the world's attention with regards to the terrorism, emerging out of the terror state, which has been a consistent problem over multiple decades. It fails to control the narrative, for reasons unknown to the author. India has consistently failed to counter the narrative/information warfare campaign carried out by the adversary, despite their wild claims, and exaggerated (comical?) posturing on the global stage.

If India truly wants to eradicate the terror, it must eliminate the terrorists, their backers, their justifications, arguments and narratives. The author sincerely believes that it is time for a full-scale narrative war to be carried out by India, in order to establish its narrative on the world stage, and that this narrative war, be taken on with a war-like effort from both the state and the public at large, and to systematically dismantle the status-quo narrative, where the adversary enjoys undue privilege on the world stage.