India’s recent military strikes inside Pakistani territory are not just another tit-for-tat reprisal in a long-standing regional dispute. They signal something far more consequential: the end of New Delhi’s strategic patience and the beginning of a far riskier approach to cross-border conflict.

The strikes were calibrated and limited in scope. But they were also unmistakably a gamble. India now believes it can respond militarily to Pakistani-backed attacks without triggering full-scale war. That’s quite a wager.

But escalation in the nuclear age is not a policy. It’s a risk calculation with millions of lives on the table.

The immediate trigger was a deadly ambush in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 civilians. India blamed Pakistan-based militant groups. Pakistan, of course, denied involvement.

But this time, India launched a military operation that struck a number of targets across the Line of Control and in Pakistani territory — sites identified by New Delhi as linked to the terrorist groups responsible. The strikes were brief but pointed, carried out with precision-guided munitions launched from India’s Rafale fighter jets.

This isn’t unprecedented. India launched “surgical........

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