Over a fortnight had elapsed since the Pahalgam terror attack, and some notes of scepticism had begun filtering through the cacophony. India had promised a response that Pakistan would never forget. Would it at all have a military component, as automatically assumed in the beginning? Or would it stay at the level of economic levers being turned? After all, no one sane on either side really wanted a war—and as the world media kept reminding everyone, these were two overly pugnacious nuclear neighbours. The main protagonists had clearly not forgotten. Social media saturated the information space with too much sabre-rattling for that. So while Uri and Balakot had raised the bar of expectations from the Narendra Modi government, there was also a tacit and deep awareness that this time was different. That the nature of the game somehow seemed tilted more precipitously towards that dreaded escalatory ladder. So was the walking back on the Indus Waters Treaty going to be it? Was the inevitable really not that inevitable? The answer came as the pages of the calendar turned between May 6 and 7. That’s when India crossed a major threshold. But it crossed with as much tact as possible.
The one definitive feature that stands out about Operation Sindoor is the articulated desire for precision, rather than scale. A few significant numbers were doubtless logged there. Nine targets are being struck across the border and the Line of Control, from Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir down to Bahawalpur in Punjab province. The latter, especially, was mainland territory that India had not touched since 1971. Even so, the air it exuded was that of a responsible nation-state that does not want to shed innocent blood. The choice of targets itself expressed that. Even if Pakistan claims innocent casualties, in its typically non-verifiable ways, all sites were unambiguously linked to its terror factories. The most notable strains of sobriety came in the tones in which New Delhi spoke after the strikes. “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and the method of execution,” said the government. Equally sagacious was the choice of speakers, Col Sophiya Qureshi teaming up with Wing Commander Vyomika Singh. That was as much a response to the hotheads within India, as to those outside. That capacity for balance amid a crisis, India’s old virtue, may well turn out to be its best weapon now.