NEW DELHI: You can choose your friends, but not your neighbours. In India’s case, the neighbour it inherited after Partition was Pakistan, a country with which its ties have been defined by wars, mistrust and recurring conflict ever since Independence.Whenever the two countries have entered direct military confrontation, the outcome has largely remained the same: India emerged on top.From the first Kashmir war in 1947 to the battlefields of 1965, the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 and the heights of Kargil in 1999, Pakistan repeatedly found itself on the losing side.Yet, after setbacks in conventional warfare, Islamabad continued with what India has long described as a strategy of proxy conflict, marked by Pakistan’s long-denied but widely documented links to militant groups operating in Kashmir.India is today marking another such military victory, one that followed the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir last year in which Pakistan-backed militants killed 26 civilians.New Delhi responded with precision strikes targeting militant camps inside Pakistan, setting off a full-blown military standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.But just how close did the region come to the brink?How it startedThe chain of events started with Pakistan’s military chief Asim Munir backing the “two-nation theory” that led to the creation of Pakistan, citing differences between Hindus and Muslims in “every possible aspect of life”.Just days before the Pahalgam attack, Munir reminded a gathering of overseas Pakistanis that the cultural, religious, and civilisational divergence from Hindus remains the raison d’être of Pakistan.“You have to narrate Pakistan’s story to your children so that they don’t forget that our forefathers thought we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life,” Munir said.And then came the old slogan: Kashmir is Pakistan’s “jugular vein”.The Pahalgam attackJust days later, Pahalgam’s Baisaran Valley witnessed one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on Indian soil in recent memory.On April 22, 2025, terrorists belonging to The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, entered a civilian area and allegedly separated victims based on religion.Within hours, authorities confirmed that 26 civilians were killed in what was described by security establishment sources as a coordinated terror attack targeting civilians in a high-footfall tourist zone.Security forces immediately launched search operations across surrounding forest belts, and the area was sealed off. Tourists were evacuated from adjoining routes as emergency protocols were activated across south Kashmir.‘India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers’A day later, during a rally in Bihar’s Madhubani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed action. “India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers,” he said.Speaking about the Jammu and Kashmir attack in Hindi, Modi suddenly switched to English and declared, “Today, from the soil of Bihar, I say this to the whole world: India will identify, trace and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth.”The rare shift to English was clearly meant not for Indians, but for the world.Meanwhile, India also downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan, suspended the Indus WatersTreaty, sealed the Attari-Wagah border, declared Pakistani diplomats persona non grata, and suspended visas for Pakistani nationals. India also carried out naval missile tests and large-scale Indian Air Force drills.For Pakistan, the Indus river system is seen as more of a “jugular vein” than Kashmir itself, as its waters are crucial for agriculture in the politically influential provinces of Punjab and Sindh.Pakistan retaliated diplomatically by suspending visas for Indians, shutting its airspace to Indian-operated aircraft, halting trade, and suspending the Simla Agreement.With this, it became clearer that a military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours was increasingly likely.Operation SindoorWhile giving the armed forces a free hand to mount the Indian response, PM Modi told the three service chiefs:”Wahaan pe goli chalegi, to yahaan se gola chalega — if they fire bullets, we respond with mortar shells.” The clear brief was to up the ante each time and give a befitting response to the terrorists and their state sponsors.
In the early hours of May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor, targeting nine terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The tri-services operation, carried out from Indian soil, targeted camps linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Hizbul Mujahideen.Among the major targets identified were:
- Markaz Taiba in Muridke, linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba operations
- Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, considered a major Jaish-e-Mohammed centre
- Syedna Bilal and Shawai Nalla camps in Muzaffarabad
- Sarjal camp in Tehra Kalan
- Mehmoona Joya in Sialkot, associated with Hizbul Mujahideen
The operation lasted just minutes, but its impact stretched across four tense days of military escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Defence minister Rajnath Singh said that more than 100 terrorists were eliminated during Operation Sindoor.\\\\
Pakistan’s nuclear bluffAfter the first round of strikes, US Vice – President JD Vance reached out to PM Modi on May 9, informing him that Pakistan was going to dramatically escalate the conflict, potentially turning it into an all-out war.India remained unmoved. PM Modi told Vance that India’s retaliation would be “far more forceful, stronger and devastating”. He reinforced the point in his address to the nation, making it clear that “India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail and that it would “strike decisively” without discriminating “between the government sponsoring terrorism and the masterminds of terrorism”.Pakistan’s retaliationThe following day, Pakistan launched drone strikes and heavy shelling along the Line of Control (LoC).
Pakistan also attempted multiple airspace violations across India’s western border and launched nearly 300-400 drones across 36 locations targeting military infrastructure, killing 16 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.Forces, however, intercepted and neutralised many of the drones using both kinetic and non-kinetic systems.Pakistan attempted strikes on Indian Air Force bases in Awantipura, Srinagar and Uttarlai, along with Army installations in Jammu, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Bathinda and Chandigarh.India’s multi-layered air defence network, led by the S-400 Triumf missile system, intercepted the attacks.On May 9, India launched a major retaliatory strike and destroyed a Chinese-origin HQ-9 surface-to-air missile and radar system in Lahore.
Other locations targeted included Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Attock, Bahawalpur, Miano and areas near Karachi.The strikes convinced Pakistan that the war would only go downhill for it.Both Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Munir reportedly spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asking Washington to intervene and get India to stand down.They apparently claimed that if an all-out war were to break out, Pakistan would be forced to use all available options**, which they hinted may even include nuclear weapons.The Navy closes inMeanwhile, the Indian Navy was fully deployed in the Arabian Sea. Vice Admiral AN Pramod later said the Indian Navy immediately mobilised its carrier battle group into the northern Arabian Sea in full combat readiness, adopting what he called a “decisive and deterrent posture.”“In the aftermath of the cowardly attacks on innocent tourists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani-sponsored terrorists on April 22, the Indian Navy’s carrier battle group, surface forces, submarines and aviation assets were immediately deployed at sea with full combat readiness,” he said.“We tested and refined tactics and procedures at sea during multiple weapon firings in the Arabian Sea within 96 hours of the terrorist attack,” he added.Pramod also mentioned that Pakistan’s naval and air units were forced into a largely defensive stance, retreating to harbours or staying close to the coastline, movements that Indian forces continuously monitored.“Our forces remained forward deployed in the northern Arabian Sea in a decisive and deterrent posture with full readiness and capacity to strike select targets at sea and on land, including Karachi, at a time of our choosing,” he said.CeasefireAfter four days, an understanding was reached between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries to halt all military activity across land, air and sea. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Pakistan’s DGMO contacted his Indian counterpart at 3.35 pm on May 10, after which both sides agreed to stop all firing and military operations from 5 pm IST.During the confrontation, the armed forces inflicted significant damage on Pakistani military assets. DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai stated that 35-40 Pakistani military personnel were killed.India-Pakistan relations have long been defined by cycles of tension that pull the two neighbours back to the brink time and again. With none of the core disputes fully resolved, the possibility of renewed hostilities continues to hang over the relationship.India and Pakistan may continue to cycle through periods of confrontation and uneasy calm. But with widening asymmetries in economic strength, diplomatic leverage and military capability, the balance in future crises increasingly appears tilted in India’s favour.
