‘Operation Sindoor’ May Halt the War Frenzy But Not For Long
Another grave question to ponder over pertains to how Pakistan will choose the targets to hit. One can perhaps assess that it may not target military establishments, except along the LoC, which has already witnessed heavy exchange of fire, including that of high trajectory weapons like Mortors.
This exchange at the LoC is now going to be a long-drawn affair, at least till the summers last. India needs to be on extra alert to ensure that LoC or the International Border is not exploited by Pakistan to send across militants under cover of fire.
The Border Security Force (BSF) deployed along the International Border in Jammu sector and Punjab, needs to be especially vigilant against the threat of tunnels and drones being used by Pakistan to send across militants and logistics.
Pakistan may also resort to targeting infrastructure along the Western and Eastern rivers, part of the Indus Waters Treaty, because of the adverse impact of India’s holding it in. The strategic community needs to factor this in and deploy adequate resources to defend these points of potential vulnerability.
This brings me back to my earlier question.
While the complicity of Pakistan in the Pahalgam attack is beyond doubt, can military response alone deter it?
The frenzied backstage parlays and intervention of the international community had been key to enabling rapid de-escalation after the Pulwama-Balakot episode in 2019. The situation could similarly be diffused even now.
But such ad hoc strategy every time things escalate beyond control between the two nuclear neighbours is no failsafe—and doesn’t ensure deterrance for long. There is no guarantee that an attack will not happen again. The only way out of this for us is to perhaps go inward. We need to look within and address the causes of the long-festering militancy in the Kashmir region, which collectively remains the biggest casualty of this conflict.
(Sanjiv Krishan Sood (Retd) has served as the Additional Director General of the BSF and was also with the SPG. He tweets @sood_2. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
