Wars are not to be fought with hot heads. They are won with cold precision and planning, and timing is paramount.

India’s first military response to the Pahalgam Islamic terror attack on April 22 in which non-Muslim tourists were screened and massacred came whistling through the night breeze in the shape of missiles in the wee hours of Wednesday. Nine terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan’s Punjab province have been pulverised.

Moot here is the timing.

The Indian counterstrikes come at a time of a Trump tariff-induced uncertainty and hectic global trade deals to tide over it. They come riding on India’s frenetic diplomatic reach out to the major powers and also in its neighbourhood. And the reprisals, just two weeks after the Pahalgam attack, give the jolted Indian domestic audience immense confidence in its government.

Just a day before the missile strike on the Pakistani terror camps, New Delhi reportedly proposed Washington to charge zero-for-zero tariffs on steel, auto components and pharmaceuticals from the US. The reciprocal tariffs offer will hold up to a certain quantity of imports from the US........

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