Operation Sindoor: Manoeuvre over attrition

IN the swirl of claims and counterclaims after Operation Sindoor, the truth was quietly sidelined. Pakistan trumpeted tales of downed Indian aircraft and heroic resistance. Its military-run media machine — an expert in psychological optics — spun a victory narrative. Then came the grand spectacle: Gen Asim Munir was promoted to Field Marshal. His reward for green-lighting the Pahalgam attack. Now he shoulders it.

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But here’s the core reality:

This was a campaign of manoeuvre, not attrition, aimed squarely at the enemy’s will. Pakistan sued for peace before it truly began. Every time its terror gambit faces consequences, Pakistan retreats into spectacle — missiles dodged, jets downed, heroic last stands. These are illusions crafted for a public long held captive by a military-first state. An army with a nation.

What happened instead:

Assaults on Indian territory repulsed to a nick. The joint air defence show was a masterclass — calculated, cohesive and coordinated. A message that should be comprehensively etched by those who dream of aerial mischief.

Wars are not won by trending hashtags or by giving state funerals to terrorists draped in military honour. They are won when the enemy’s core infrastructure is struck — when 11 airfields go dark in one precise operation. That’s when backchannels flare to life. Not out of strength, but out of the fear of ‘what next?’

As the CDS observed, there was no nuclear sabre-rattling, no call, no warning.

— No civilian casualties.

— No escalation into population centres.

— Yet, airfields, logistics hubs and launch pads were struck with precision.

Then Pakistan’s DGMO reached out — not under global pressure, but because India changed the rules.

A military doctrine in motion

A military truism: No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Op Sindoor was no different. But what followed was more telling. Tactical adjustments were immediate. Operational responses required coordination across commands. Strategic recalibration demanded clarity and speed. Op Sindoor demonstrated all three.

From the frontline to airbases to the highest military echelons, each platform and level of command acted with coherence and control. It was professionalism in motion across the full chain of command. An early glitch, observed and corrected, became a turning point.

Yet, even as India recalibrated in real time, adversaries rushed to declare victory — triumphalism based on partial facts, amplified by platforms that never asked what happened next. Within hours of claiming dominance, Pakistan lost operational use of 11 airfields. Silence replaced bluster. Propaganda gave way to paralysis.

Op Sindoor demonstrated what 21st-century military doctrine must aim for: low-cost, high-impact outcomes that preempt escalation. The operation became a lesson in calibrated deterrence — timed, targeted and entirely within the thresholds of responsible force.

Conflict termination: The Indian model

Across the modern battlefield, wars begin easily — but rarely end. Vietnam lingered. Iraq fractured. Afghanistan collapsed. Russia-Ukraine drags on. Gaza remains a wound with no closure. Great powers dominate airspace — but fail at ending wars. India has done it twice.

In 1971, 30,000 entrenched Pakistani soldiers in Dhaka surrendered to 3,000 Indian troops on the move. The ratio was 10:1. In all, Pakistan capitulated in 13 days. Ninety thousand PoWs. It was victory of mind over matter — manoeuvre over attrition. Not conquest, but conclusion.

Now in 2025, Operation Sindoor — executed in 88 hours — had a conflict-terminating objective: Dominate the escalatory space. India enforced consequences, then chose restraint. In both cases, India didn’t just fight well — it ended well. That is the rarest art in strategy.

Why did India control escalation? Because Pakistan’s instability is manufactured — not accidental. The world knows it. Neighbours definitely do. Yet the myth continues — sustained by fear, denial and spectacle. Nations do not rise on martyrdom or manipulated memories. They rise when people refuse to be misled. When the public ceases to serve the lie, truth finds its place. Until then, silence fuels the cycle.

Instability as leverage: The real game around Pakistan

For years, Pakistan’s volatility has been treated not as a threat — but as a tool. China, Pakistan’s long-time patron, benefits from an India constantly drawn into reactive postures. A distracted India suits Beijing’s strategic aims — from Ladakh to the Indian Ocean. The United States, despite long acknowledging Pakistan’s duplicity, still sees its military as a useful conduit — whether for regional optics, minerals or access to Afghanistan. Even multilateral institutions and segments of the Western press hedge their bets.

Pakistan’s military curates victimhood while incubating instability — and the world, knowingly, plays along. In this global theatre, Pakistan has become a proxy — not just for terror, but for transactional diplomacy. And India, for too long, bore the cost alone.

Op Sindoor changed that. Not by shouting, but by showing.

India cannot talk to proxies. But the people of Pakistan can choose not to be used. Upright, clean governance begins not with outsiders — but with a nation’s own citizens telling their Army: “Serve, do not rule. Integrate, do not destroy.” Because a puppet on a string may entertain the world, but it only dances for the puppeteer. When the show ends, it is the people who pay the price.

The Indian doctrine: Clarity, not conquest

India’s strategic posture has evolved. We are no longer reactive. We respond — precisely, proportionally and with purpose. Operation Sindoor reflects a mature doctrine — no overkill, yet enough to alter behaviour. No spectacle, yet enough to jolt Rawalpindi. A war won before it escalated. India doesn’t need to destroy Pakistan to deter it. We only need to show we can — but choose not to.

This is strength with conscience. This clarity, this blend of capability and restraint, makes India’s calibrated deterrence credible in ways brute force never could. When adversaries cannot predict you, and allies cannot second-guess you, a new equilibrium emerges — one in which India is assertive, yet aligned with its values.

The war before the war

Op Sindoor wasn’t about platforms or payloads. It was about clarity, initiative and control. In a world where wars drag on — inflicting brutal costs on civilian men, women and children — India has offered a different model: Manoeuvre over attrition.

Where others fight to exhaust, we act to conclude. Where others escalate into chaos, we calibrate for stability. And just like Dhaka, the enemy blinked — not after the war began, but before it could.

Let the record show: India won the war before the war — while the nations of the world watched. Some nervously. Others knowingly. But all, now, undeniably aware.

Lt Gen SS Mehta (Retd) is ex-Western Army Commander and Founder Trustee, Pune International Centre.