During the debate in both Houses of Parliament last week, the government gave the impression that Operation Sindoor had been finally paused, the goals had been achieved, and it is back to the usual way of doing things. That would be wrong. The truth is, the military was playing a tough game when the civilian government forcibly snatched the ball.

Operation Sindoor has busted some myths: that fighting a war against Pakistan will be easy, that India’s superiority in conventional war will prevail, and that India has friends and Pakistan none.

Military vs Political

The military leadership was exemplary. Apparently, they asked for and got operational freedom. The Indian armed forces’ first-mover advantage gave them early wins: 9 places that hosted terrorist infrastructure were demolished and several terrorists were killed. However, Pakistan’s armed forces quickly recovered. They counter-attacked on May 7-8 using China-made aircraft (J-10), China-made missiles (PL-15) and drones acquired from Türkiye.

Realising that ‘tactical mistakes’ had been made, the military leadership paused the operation and ‘re-strategized’. That is leadership. It re-launched the Operation on May 9-10, struck at 11 military airbases and severely damaged them. Inevitably, the Indian armed forces suffered some ‘losses’, and the Chief of Defence Staff and the Deputy Chief of Army Staff admitted the losses. That too is........

© Mathrubhumi English