The recent evolution of India’s military doctrine has revived an old but increasingly urgent question for South Asia: how does India’s security establishment perceive the use of military power, and what does this mean for regional stability? Understanding the Indian military mind is not an academic exercise. For Pakistan, it is a strategic necessity. Over the past two decades, India’s military thinking has undergone a significant transformation. Traditionally, New Delhi projected an image of strategic restraint, emphasizing diplomacy, economic development and defensive military postures. Today, however, a different trend is visible. Military power has become a more prominent instrument of statecraft, closely linked to India’s aspirations for major-power status and its desire to shape the regional balance of power. This shift is rooted in several developments. India’s rapid economic growth has expanded defense spending and accelerated military modernization. At the same time, competition with China has pushed Indian planners to rethink force structures, strategic partnerships and military preparedness. Yet it is Pakistan that often finds itself at the center of India’s evolving doctrines and political narratives. The emergence of concepts such as surgical strikes and limited conventional operations reflects a growing belief among sections of India’s strategic community that military action can be employed below the threshold of full-scale war. Such thinking is based on the assumption that escalation can be managed and controlled. South Asia’s history, however, offers little support for such confidence. The fundamental reality remains unchanged: India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed neighbors with a long record of crises, mistrust and unresolved disputes. Any doctrine that assumes predictable escalation dynamics risks underestimating the dangers inherent in the region’s security environment. Miscalculations, rather than deliberate decisions, have often driven international crises to dangerous levels. Compounding these concerns is the increasing fusion of nationalism and security policy within India’s domestic........

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