'We do not want to fall into a trap of uncontrolled escalation or all out conflict.'
'When the need arises we will do that.'
When Operation Sindoor came to halt on May 10 after three days of its launch, many Indians were not pleased.
For in just three days, the Pakistani establishment was on its knees.
Nine elements of the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan were destroyed in Operation Sindoor; important installations of the Pakistan army also took a beating.
In panic Pakistan called up the Americans requesting them to persuade India to stop the hostilities.
By May 10 evening, Operation Sindoor was suspended, which disappointed many as they were expecting the Indian forces to go ahead and capture Pakistan occupied Kashmir, or even break up Pakistan like they did in 1971.
What was India's strategy and expectations behind Operation Sindoor?
Has Pakistan learnt the lesson that in New India there is zero tolerance for terror activity, or will escalate things further?
"What we have made clear this time is that we have gone beyond words, and we will act against terrorism and its sponsors and masterminds regardless of the price we have to pay," Ambassador Pankaj Saran, India's former deputy national security advisor and a former ambassador to Russia, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.
The Pahalgam attack, where the terrorists singled out Hindus for killing, is a chilling throwback to the dark days of Khalistani terrorism that also had a Pakistani hand.
In that sense, are we seeing the revival of an old playbook by Pakistan to create a communal divide in India using Kashmir, something they have so far failed to do?
In a sense, yes, because the communal angle is one of the most salient aspects of the Pahalgam attack.
In the case of 26/11 in Mumbai the attack was against innocent civilians. There was no targeting of people of religion, although some Jewish locations were attacked.
The Pahalgam terror attack was in many ways similar to the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 on Israeli civilians. The terrorists deliberately targeted innocent civilians who were non-combatants. They singled them out on the basis of religion.
The idea was not just to kill but to send a message to Hindus in India that we are targeting you. So, yes, I would say this is a playbook of the past.
After Prime Minister Modi's address to the nation on May 12 it looks like Pakistan has to be ready for 'goli ka jawab gola se' in future. Will this be the new normal for Pakistan if they dare to undertake terror activity in India?
Absolutely. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on May 12 was a ground-breaking pronouncement on India's new counter-terrorism doctrine.
There were many messages in that speech and each one was deliberate, meant for the ears of Rawalpindi (where Pakistan's military headquarters is located) and the backers of terrorism in Pakistan.
There is absolutely no doubt that the prime minister has laid down a new normal.
There is nothing much left to the imagination in what the prime minister has said. There is no need to read between the lines because the lines are themselves clear-cut.
The message has been cast in a blunt and straightforward manner. In doing so, he has expressed the feelings of the country.
The prime minister has put Pakistan on notice about what we expect from them and what will be the nature of the relationship in future.
India's new doctrine states that killing of innocent Indians by Pakistan-based terrorists in future will be considered an act of war.
Considering that we have been victims of this low-cost warfare by Pakistan, why did previous governments not carry out retaliatory strikes, why did we exercise such self-restraint when we know the world respects power and strength?
That was the reflection of the nature of the political government of the day. It is difficult to look back and explain the kind of actions, behaviour and strategies that were adopted in the past.
The fact of the matter is that every single terror incident in the last 25 years since the turn of the century, and I am not talking about before that, had different characteristics.
It has taken the election of PM Modi in 2014 to revisit and to reshape the Indian response to terror attacks.
In previous decades there was still hope left that possibly dialogue and international pressure on Pakistan and other kinds of non-military means could influence or affect the behaviour of Pakistan. Events after that have dashed those hopes. That is another reason.
So it is a combination of the political orientation of the government of the day and this sense of hope that led to the exercise of self-restraint in the pre-Modi era.
There is a famous saying, 'Pakistan nahi sudhrega'. After Operation Sindoor, do you feel Pakistan sudhar jayega?
The question of whether this will make us immune from further attacks or lead to change in the Pakistani attitude remains.
The point to emphasise is not whether this is going to result in the change we want but that Pakistan has been put on notice that there will be a cost to pay in terms of a response from India.
In other words, the predictability of India's response is a matter that Pakistan can no longer take for granted. The only thing we can do is to raise the cost of terrorism for Pakistan, apart from the other diplomatic and other measures we will take.
The policy response to Pakistan has broadened and widened. It now includes and will go beyond diplomatic means to military means and use of force.
There is disappointment too that India did not hit the Pakistani army hard enough because they are the ones supporting the terror groups acting against India. In retrospect, why didn’t we hit the Pakistani army harder, incapacitate their strike capability, etc?
There was a lot of anger in India, equal if not more than after the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. Innocents were killed in a cold-blooded manner, at short range in front of their families.
We should be clear that our military strikes were first and foremost an anti-terror operation. The campaign escalated only when the Pakistanis responded by attacking our military areas and worse, civilian centres.
In response, the government showed the capability and readiness to hit Pakistan military facilities across the length and breadth of the country.
We were not trying to find a solution to the problem. We understand that we will continue to face the threat from terrorism as long as the power structure in Pakistan remains unchanged. Our objectives have been met fully.
What we have done represents a significant jump from the past. The message to Pakistan is that if there is a repetition the response will be stronger.
Views have also been expressed that India should have taken over Pakistan occupied Kashmir to teach Pakistan a lesson. Do you feel it was possible for us to do so? Would that have stopped the flow of terrorism?
When the need comes we will do it. This time our response was pointed and very controlled. We kept the initiative with us of escalating to a point which we felt was adequate for the purpose. We also maintained the ability to call a halt to it.
The whole idea was to maintain full control over the chain of events. This was critical for messaging and signalling.
We have shown the ability to hit but also to stop. We do not want to fall into a trap of uncontrolled escalation or all out conflict. When the need arises we will do that.
The doctrine of smart, precise, controlled action of a military nature is new to us as a nation.
As far as Pakistan occupied Kashmir is concerned I don't think this was the objective this time. I am sure our armed forces and others have adequate instructions from the government because government policy is that the only question left on Kashmir is the return of Pakistan occupied Kashmir to India.
Post abrogation of Article 370 India had scored a major moral victory in Kashmir. Tourists returned in large numbers, the young Kashmiri generation was looking forward to a better future and then the Pahalgam terror attack happens, denting tourism and hitting Kashmiri revenues.
Is this going to be a repeated cycle where India does the heavy lifting and then Pakistan destroys it all with one terror strike?
This has been Pakistan's response historically, of hitting India with low cost methods to sabotage progress. Such methods require minimum financing and resources.
They have lived in the hope that this strategy will work and one fine day as a cumulative effect of all this, Kashmir will fall. The fact is that Kashmir has not fallen.
If any side has paid the price it is Pakistan itself. It has lost as a society and as an economy.
We have to persevere with our strategy of integrating and developing Kashmir'1s economy, agriculture, horticulture and tourism.
Since the abrogation of Article 370, the mood of the people in Kashmir has changed. That genie cannot be put back in the bottle. Kashmiris have tasted what it means to function normally, live a normal life and engage in normal economic activity.
The idea that an attack like this will derail progress is not true at all. There will be a temporary setback but I have absolutely no doubt we will bounce back.
Empirically, Kashmir has always bounced back. The progress in the last 5 years was phenomenal.
In this scenario, do you feel that when a country like Israel cannot stop terrorist attacks on its citizens, how can we ensure that Pakistan will stop?
You have to have national will. You have to have staying power, to be able to withstand any such (future) attack and not to allow the adversary to derail your national mission and national goals. This is the most important.
In terms of resilience and national will it is quite clear that we have prevailed compared to the grim situation in 1989. Pakistan has tried everything possible to sabotage and derail (peace in Kashmir) and it has not worked.
What has happened on the contrary is that Pakistan is itself crumbling. There are many cases where countries have no option but to live in a difficult neighbourhood. This does not mean that we have to give up our agenda.
At the same time we have to steel ourselves given the nature of the (length of) the border (with Pakistan).
What we have made clear this time is that we have gone beyond words, and we will act against terrorism and its sponsors and masterminds regardless of the price we have to pay.
The Pakistanis were so far living in the comfort of their nuclear umbrella. This gave them a sense of impunity and immunity. This myth has been broken with Operation Sindoor.
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