In the chronicles of India’s counter-terrorism history, Operation Sindoor will be remembered not just as a military operation, but as a defining moment in the nation’s strategic journey—a national inflection point.

In precision, planning, political resolve, and moral clarity, it marks a new era. More than a response, it was a strategic message. More than punishment, it was a doctrine in action. And above all, it was India’s Dharma Yudh—a just war against terror.

We have seen bold actions before—Uri’s surgical strikes in 2016, and Balakot’s aerial precision in 2019—but Sindoor is not just a continuation. It is a transformation. It reflects India’s evolution into a nation that no longer tolerates terror as the cost of statecraft but confronts it head-on—strategically, clinically, and unapologetically.

India has endured the sting of terrorism for far too long. Decades of cross-border infiltration, ambushes on soldiers, attacks on civilians, and proxy warfare launched from Pakistani soil have scarred our national psyche. Groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)—proscribed globally yet patronised openly in Pakistan—have treated Indian lives with impunity.

But the targeted killing of innocent tourists at Pahalgam, followed by irrefutable intelligence linking Pakistan-based terror masterminds to the act, proved to be the final trigger. No more dossiers. No more statements of condemnation. India responded—not impulsively, but with calibrated decisiveness. And thus, Operation Sindoor was born.

It wasn’t retaliation. It was an assertion—of sovereignty, of strategic clarity, and national will.

Perhaps the most significant shift was political. For decades, India bore the label of “strategic........

© News18