Last year on this day and in this month, India was prepping up for a kinetic action against Pakistan even as a group of armed terrorists attacked innocent civilians at the Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, located in the southeast of the Kashmir Valley, leaving 26 dead. The terrorists carried out indiscriminate firing at people who were present there revelling on the open grasslands. While India took a number of diplomatic steps that nearly resulted in severing ties with Pakistan, New Delhi also launched a kinetic response under ‘Operation Sindoor’ that objective of which was to dismantle the terror modules operating across the Line of Control (LoC) as well as beyond the International Border (IB) by carrying out precision air strikes.

In terms of diplomatic and economic steps, India held the 1960 Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, asserting that "blood and water cannot flow together" until support for cross-border terrorism ceases. The integrated check-post at Attari-Wagah was closed immediately, and all bilateral trade with Pakistan was suspended. In an effort to put maximum pressure on Pakistan, New Delhi also declared Pakistan’s military, naval, and air advisors, who were posted at their diplomatic mission in India, as persona non grata, even as the total staff strength of the High Commission was reduced from 55 to 30. In addition to this, India also revoked the visas of Pakistani nationals and suspended the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme for them.

However, the primary response to Pahalgam came on May 7 when India went in for a major military retaliation codenamed ‘Operation Sindoor’ under which precision airstrikes were carried out by the Indian Air Force using Rafale jets equipped with SCALP missiles and HAMMER bombs in order to destroy nine major terror launchpads and infrastructure across the border in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). Over 100 terrorists were reportedly killed in these strikes, including high-value commanders such as Yusuf Azhar and Abdul Malik Rauf.

Prime Minister Modi granted the armed forces full operational freedom to decide the timing and targets of the response. A subsequent ground operation, Operation Mahadev, was conducted by the Army, CRPF, and J&K Police to track and kill the specific perpetrators involved in the Pahalgam massacre. By July 2025, all three primary attackers were apparently neutralised.

As the last echoes of gunfire faded into silence in the days that followed, India found itself grappling with a complex web of diplomatic relationships. The aftermath was marked by a period of introspection that forced New Delhi to reassess its alliances, particularly with key strategic partners like the United States. This period of reflection revealed the intricacies of international relations, spotlighting the deep-rooted connection between Pakistan and China, a........

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