THE pain of military defeat in “Operation Sindoor” has gone deep into the decision-making quarters of India.

The cost of this miserable failure is very high for ultra-ambitious Narendra Modi amid the obvious collapse of his political legacy, even in his third consecutive term in the corridors of power. India’s post-Pahalgam stance is sufficient to prove it as a regional spoiler. The ruling elite of the BJP overplayed the Pahalgam terrorist attack as a false flag to trigger war rhetoric against Pakistan for political benefits in state elections.

How India politicized the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) to provoke Pakistan was the initial indicator of the expansion of hostilities. Unwise missile and drone strikes compelled Pakistan to respond in kind. The wide-scale embarrassment of India, especially the collapse of the IAF and the paralysis of its missile system, has dented its self-created sense of regional........

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