EDITORIAL
Restrained retaliation was inevitable; no country should take India for granted
The Indian armed forces conducted precision strikes on nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in a pre-dawn operation yesterday. Operation Sindoor was a much-awaited action India had been waiting for in response to the killing of 26 innocent civilians last month at Pahalgam in J&K.
Officials said that the mission was “focussed, measured and non-escalatory”, and specifically avoided Pakistani military installations. The nine sites were the bases from where terrorist attacks against India had been planned and directed. Through 24 precisely coordinated missile strikes, India demonstrated that it would no longer tolerate cross-border terrorism. The Pahalgam killers widowed 25 women, one of them married just days earlier. Fittingly, India named its retaliatory action against Pakistan-based terror sites Operation Sindoor.
Two days after the massacre in Pahalgam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that “India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers and our spirit will never be broken,” sending a strong message to the anti-India forces that the country would not keep quiet. Home Minister Amit Shah had also assured the nation that the culprits would not be spared at all. And rightly so, the armed forces executed the plan with utmost precision.
For the first time in Indian history, two women officers – Colonel Sofiya Qureshi from the Indian Army and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh from the Indian Air Force – led the official press briefing on a major military operation. Commentators say that their articulation and the delivery of their statements reflected not only India’s resolve to respond to terrorism but also the rising strength of women in the armed forces. Col Qureshi said that the terror targets were chosen based on credible intelligence and their involvement in cross-border terrorism. She said no military installation was targeted in Pakistan during the operation. Wing Commander Singh said that Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian Armed Forces to deliver justice to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attacks and their families.
India had launched similar operations in the recent past – surgical strike in 2016 following the Uri attack, when Goa’s former chief minister Manohar Parrikar was the country’s Defence Minister and in 2019, cross-LoC aerial strikes in response to the Pulwama attack – during which many terror launch pads were destroyed.
India’s tri-service military action under Operation Sindoor drew swift international attention, with several global powers urging caution and restraint. True, no country can afford a war. However, no country can be taken for granted in terror attacks. As India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has said, the world must show zero tolerance for terrorism. India has been a victim of terrorism for a long time, losing its defence personnel and civilians to dastardly attacks. No country having self-respect can keep quiet about such acts of terrorism. The Western world makes a big noise only when their countries or their nationals are killed in terror attacks. What is to be appreciated in yesterday’s operation is that the Union government maintained restraint and did not target Pakistan’s military installations or civilian areas.
Pakistan had to be taught a good lesson. Enough is enough. We need peace in the country and cannot allow any country to destabilise India. We cannot allow any country, through nefarious means, to stop our march to progress and prosperity.
Salute to our armed forces! They have done a stupendous job. Restrained retaliation was inevitable. Hopefully, a clear message will go out to the enemies of our country – that they cannot take us for granted.
