23rd March 2003. Twenty three years ago today, a Pakistani Operative Zia Mustafa of the Laskhar-e-Toiba walks into the village of Nadimarg, Jammu and Kashmir. Wearing fake uniforms, Zia and his accomplices wake up the the village, and then proceed to murder 11 men, 11 women and a boy after lining them up. Walking away, the terrorists hear a baby crying, and order to silence him. The baby becomes murder victim #24. Link
23 March 2026, I read a comment on a BP thread discussing the West Asia war and Iran’s defiance, and the question that is the the topic of this post is asked.
I feel obligated to answer it. The statistics of so-called ‘non-state actor’ victims inflicted by Pakistani groups on Indian soil, since the 1990s, into the 2000s and beyond are stark. For an Indian who has grown up to adulthood in these years, actually lived through multiple decades where hundreds if not thousands of Indians dying as a result of the Lashkars and Jaish of the world was just part and parcel of life – all given succor by the Pakistani military and state. The datasheet linked here shows the tragedy that has been slowly but surely being deterred – and this is only starting with the year 2000. According to SATP, more than 25000 deaths occurred in J&K between 1988 and 2000.
The change in the public response of the Indian government, starting with the surgical strikes in 2016, and then escalated with the Balakot Bombing raids, and the direct and sharp decrease in the number of terrorism incidents is unmistakable. Operation Sindoor, the 4 day skirmish that took place in May 2025 on the heels of unarmed tourists being murdered in cold blood – is the exclamation mark in a simple statement that demonstrates Indian resilience and response when challenged with terrorism. No more will such attacks go unanswered. And the ultimate sponsors of such evil – the Pakistan Military itself – will have to bear direct consequences delivered. Via Brahmos-Mail.
Nobody needs a degree in statistics, to spot the co-relation in the timeline – India starts executing public retaliation in the aftermath of terror attacks, the frequency of such attacks drops sharply.
As far as the spreadsheets accounting and the nuts and bolts of what targets were hit during Op Sindoor that would count as “actual accomplishments” – there is ample evidence available for any objective observer to get themselves informed. From satellite imagery of multiple PAF bases and runways ‘double-tapped’ into shutting down for months, to ‘hardened’ aircraft shelters being demolished and rebuilt months after the fact.
But what Op Sindoor accomplished goes beyond merely a largely one-sided ledger of inflicting losses to military bases and flagship bases of terrorist organizations – Op Sindoor was a demonstration of commitment by the Indian state – a resolve that no longer will the nuclear umbrella allow the Pakistani Military to continue waging its ‘jihad of a thousand cuts’ without the consequences of a military conflict. One that will inflict costs not just on the bankrupt Pakistani state, with FATF gray lists hurting its citizens. Send terrorists to murder Indians, and bombs will drop on Pakistani Military bases in response. Op Sindoor is a promise of resolve. The Indian government will respond militarily if you threaten the security of its citizens.
Post-script: Apart from making an unambiguous demonstration of Indian deterrence when facing up against terrorism emanating from Pakistan, arguably the greatest indicator of the success of Op Sindoor, is the Pakistani Military’s attempt at copy-pasting their own version on Pakistan’s Eastern Border. Unfortunately, the results for the second sibling that was birthed from ‘Cracking India’ in 1947, have been a lot more….mixed.
Stone pelting/separatism is dead. Geelani is dead. Yasin Malik will die in jail. All the others have joined political parties.
Movie theaters are open after years.
Lal Chowk has the tricolour openly flying.
yes Kashmir should be integrated into India, no question about it. Peace within the Indian Subcontinent
That’s why Pakistan getting into middle eastern conflicts is good for India.
War on Terror was best thing to happen to India.
While Pak was busy with it, India got a lot of stuff done.
Let Pakistan play “kingmaker” in the Middle East and leave India alone.
Anyways, what is Kashmir compared to Al Aqsa?
Go capture it, my brave ghazis.
Is Pakistan getting into any conflict; it’s being seen as a key and trustworthy diplomat like Turkey & Egypt.
The difference between Afghanistan and Pakistan is a matter of perception; it feels pre-Sindoor, Pakistan gave very strong failed state vibes.
It feels post Sindoor, Asim Munir & the Army have managed to really integrate in Pakistan; that the Army never really to do successfully before.
One can love India that is Bharat without hating Pakistan (and vice versa). We should all aim to love one another.
Being useful in a security sense (which Pak already was) does not lead to economic growth.
North Korea is also held in high regard by China/Russia.
For all the Trump bonhomie, Trump himself banned immigration from Pakistan.
Pak Fauj getting richer doesn’t mean Pak as a country does.
We agree with this
The USS Gerald Ford, stationed in an active war theatre, reportedly had a “laundry fire.” On a nuclear carrier. Draw your own conclusions.
My broader point: the geopolitical map has fundamentally shifted. We are watching the inflection point of Pax Americana in real time.
Frank Gardner of the BBC put it plainly: Iran didn’t buckle. Trump threatened to bomb Iran’s power plants; Iran countered by threatening to destroy Gulf desalination infrastructure; at which point Trump backed down and reframed it as a ceasefire. By any honest accounting, that’s one-nil to Iran.
This is the Survival/Luxury Nations dynamic playing out in real time. Survival Nations (China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea) absorb body bags. Their militaries have already made peace with the cost of losing, because losing is the baseline they’ve always operated from. Luxury Nations (Japan, India, Israel, the GCC, the West) cannot.
Every body bag is a political crisis at home. Superior technology only decides wars when you’re willing to cross into mass civilian killing, and the moment a Luxury Nation does that, it ceases to be one. That’s the trap. Iran just demonstrated this against the most powerful military in history. India, notably, didn’t even cross Pakistani airspace during Op Sindoor.
Every encounter teaches Pakistan something. Just as Iran is learning its lessons, so is Rawalpindi.
RNJ’s above is exactly right on its own terms. But the Survival/Luxury lens adds the structural explanation: Sindoor was a demonstration of resolve, not a knockout blow; because knockout blows against Survival Nations require costs that Luxury Nations are constitutionally unwilling to pay.
>Sindoor was a demonstration of resolve, not a knockout blow; because knockout blows against Survival Nations require costs that Luxury Nations are constitutionally unwilling to pay.
Sindoor’s mission statement was never attempting a ‘knockout blow’ – A precision ‘double tap on a runway intersection, could just as easily be a dozen bombs there. But they weren’t. By design.
It is in Indian interests to have Pakistan continue to …survive. But conditional to avoiding Indian red lines.
This is not a parallel to the West Asia Conflict. That has its own set of variables and functions. Entirely different.
https://x.com/GhaziButtPmln/status/2036130134382510509?s=20
It is impressive how Iran is marshaling its diplomacy. Especially under fire.
>India, notably, didn’t even cross Pakistani airspace during Op Sindoor.
The fact that the IAF …had its way, and freely bombed PAF targets of its choosing across the length and breath of Pakistan, demonstrates that such ‘crossings’ weren’t required. Folks much more qualified than either of us have ‘graded’ the Op Sindoor Conflict. The verdict is quite unambiguous.
Anyway, I find that particular …oneupmanship game quite irrelevant and tiresome. We should focus more on West Asia, which has far greater stakes and urgency at the moment.
as you know this is not “oneupmanship”; this is just trying to understand how battles are fought and won.
as you know the Crescentiat have often accused this blog of a Saffron bias. it just feels that Op Sindoor was not the complete Victory it needs to be say like 1971, which was catastrophic and humiliating for Pakistan..
the enemy always learns and adapts if it lives on
India just did not have those objectives as it did in 1971?
India met all its objectives in Sindoor.
Why would anyone want to compare Op Sindoor with 1971? The latter was an outright invasion and seizure of territory. The former was an operation explicitly designed to be punitive. What more ‘success’ should India have aimed for?
They bombed Bahawalpur and Muridke, targeted PAF bases at will, defused PakMil attempts at retaliation, and induced a ceasefire request from them.
If this isn’t ‘complete victory’ then I’ll take this 101 times out of 100.
The biggest survival nation of all time, the USSR was given a knockout blow without a single direct punch.
Unlike USA-Iran, India is not fighting an offensive war vs Pakistan. It’s only wishes are stoppage of proxy attacks.
Any mischief will be responded to via both direct attacks as well as way greater proxy attacks via BLA/TTP.
yes the collapse of the USSR doesn’t apply here; Iran is more analogous..
India does not seek change in status quo wrt Pakistan though.
More analogous would be Iran starting something with USA.
body bags are not a crisis for India. it is Veera Gati. the dead are celebrated, given a state funeral, roads and squares are named after them.
Veera Gati?
in the Sanatana world view, a Kshatriya dying battlefield goes to swarga, on the other hand if he is victorious he rules the conquered lands like Indra.
there was a reference that the naturally died Pallava or pandya kings has their bodies slit ritually, signifying death in a battle .
Oh wow that’s amazing
Like I have said, all Religions except Buddhism glorify killing and murder of the enemy.
I have to give the LTTE credit, they did not use god/religion to motivate their cause.
It was for “country” and language. Even all female suicide bombers made their pledges to country and cause
not all..
This is astonishing
And talks of Japan and other countries paying Iran in Yuan or Rubles
Thats why I keep saying. the global order is changing. Worse to the detriment of the US.
Thanks for Operation Sindoor, as a Pakistani – I cannot thank enough. 😂
😂
I am glad you enjoyed it.
Why is that?
You look at what everyone thinks of Pakistan now and its diplomatic trajectory and you can draw your own conclusions
As the wise Dr Omar, says –
“This perfectly captures our tragedy. First leaving India to join the middle east, then exulting over geopolitical games that will deliver no benefits other than rent for the army :(”
If the Pak awaam is happy to be involved in middle eastern power games thus leaving India alone, that works out really really well for us (like it did during the war on terror).
Go on then, brave ghazi. Liberate Al Aqsa from the yahoodis.
What the US government “thinks” of the general Pakistani awaam btw –
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/immigrant-visa-processing-updates-for-nationalities-at-high-risk-of-public-benefits-usage.html
Your entire arguement, infact your every argument is summed up by this meme:
https://x.com/Femureur/status/2035821378750886166
And your every argument by this one lol.
what is this pic?
ISI head’s pic in Kabul during 2021 post American withdrawal
This picture was celebrated by the PakMil’s RW cheerleaders as a symbol of how Pakistan emerged victorious in its spy games after the US forces withdrew from Afghanistan.
We all know how this Pak-Afghan relations have turned out since then.
And ironically, the then ISI chief pictured here with his tea cup is currently ‘disappeared’ by the PakMil for being …overly supportive of Imran Khan.
Yes
I look upon the continued enslavement of Pakistanis by the kleptocracy with bemusement.
This feels very loaded. Considering Kabir is powered down; no one to appeal for offense 🙂
When are you watching Dhurandhar 2?
Friday night I think
Avoid spoilers
why is the truth deemed offensive.
When someone circles the tribal wagons and chooses to ply propaganda contrary to facts, it is not ‘offensive’ to point that out.
When Indians are frustrated with the way of things, they call others poor, enslaved, ignorant, illiterate etc etc.
Smart people in India are questioning (and now realizing) why Pakistan’s status as a military power in the region has skyrocketed since Operation Sindoor.
No one in India is “questioning (and now realizing)” why Pakistan’s status as a “military power in the region” has “skyrocketed” since Sindoor.
That meme describes everything you say lol.
Pakistan has been run roughshod post Sindoor by BLA/TTP/Taliban who are not even proper military (and that is considering the “official” Pakistan casualties).
Considering your constant usage of “shekels” and “goyim” you seem extremely anti-Israel.
So well, here’s to your dreams of a united ummah led by atami takaat Pakistan liberating Jerusalem from yahoodi clutches. No no no, what do you guys call it? Al-Quds lol.
I wish you all the best.
why would Indians be ‘frustrated’. Honestly, SQ, you are misunderstanding. I ‘get’ that you are caught up in the green vs blue tribal competition. But ultimately we are all hoooomans. Seriously, I harbor no ill-will to you.
Pakistan managing some level of military efficacy is not some kind of automatic ‘L’ for India. Or vice versa.
As I keep saying belief in religion (and dogma) are a curse on this earth
How Trump’s army of the religious right is preparing for the apocalypseAs the war in Iran spirals dangerously out of control, many in the US president’s inner circle view it as a battle foretold in biblical prophecy for the end of times.
.What a lovely future. Men as cannon fodder and women as breeders
https://archive.is/050iM#selection-1525.0-1531.167
For the Pakistanis
Old one and popped again on feed.
https://web.facebook.com/reel/315746464558815
Israel, US Strike Gas Facilities In Iran’s Isfahan, Possibly Triggering Retaliation Against Gulf
Israel, US strike gas pipeline, distribution station in Iran
Trump announces “productive” talks with Iran, “postpones” military strikes for 5 days
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/oil-plunges-stocks-spike-after-trumps-comments-iran
Probably Israel
@RNJ:
I agree with you that the stakes have been raised, but the logic of nuclear deterrence still holds. We can’t go anywhere as far in Pakistan as, say, Israel goes in Lebanon and Syria, not to mention the Occupied Territories. I’d like to think we are capable of doing the kinds of things portrayed in the Dhurandhar movies, but I’m skeptical. And I doubt we can raise the stakes much further than what we did in Op.S. precisely because of the nuclear threat. So, militarily, the results are mixed, perhaps mildly positive for us.
Economically and geopolitically, we definitely came out worse from this than we were going in. I don’t follow this super closely, but the Pakistani state seems to be less closer to bankruptcy now thanks to its, well, “diplomatic efforts” with Washington. Also, the timing of the terrorist attack and our response interfered with our signing of a relatively favorable trade deal with Trump, with a lot of resultant strife, forcing our diplomats to keep seeking balances where they earlier assumed we had acquired something of a special relationship with the US. Pakistan since Op.S. also seems to have acquired more importance in Washington’s eye as a global player.
Now all of this may be ephemeral, and could reverse itself when Trump and MAGA leave power. But until then, I really can’t say that our position vis-a-vis Pakistan is more advantageous than it had been in early 2025.
Yeah, but the things in Dhurandhar actually happened though.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/04/indian-government-assassination-allegations-pakistan-intelligence-officials
Of course they were not undercover agents, more like ex-Taliban/TTP.
Using BLA/TTP/Taliban is the best route rather than outright war.
Do a Pakistan to Pakistan.
Talks to end one of the most major conflicts of this millennium is to be held in Pakistan.
This should have been in India but that visit to Israel has turned the Indo-Iranian relationship, which was nearly all-weather, into a transactional one.
Furthermore post-Sindoor it seems the special relationship between PM Modi & Trump is now instead with Nethanyahu.
No one could have imagined this a year ago. Also military installations can be built rapidly; how long will Iran or Pakistan take to rebuild what was destroyed but also this year adapt their tactics.
So the onus on those who attacked is that next time they have to change their tactics and firepower differential.
Naah, India like China don’t get into these things,
And India-Iran relationship won’t change as can be seen by the tankers going through.
Yes, it would have been great to see India part of the solution towards peace, post the West Asia conflict. And I’m disappointed to see Modi and the Indian govt allowing itself to get ‘played’ by Netanyahu. The optics of that visit are just bad. No way to put lipstick on that pig. And its in direct contravention to professed Indian foreign policy.
Yes, India is dependent on Israel for critical defense tech and supplies. But arguably Israel would have continued as supplier even without such …..overt coziness.
The worst part is the troika US-Israel-India has put India second fiddle to Israel.
This was not about military dependence; this was about Islamophobia. PM was trying to stick it to Indian Muslims.
It was a completely unnecessary visit.
BB talks about the pacification and demographic replacement of Kashmir (will Biharis do the same to the South?) but the strength of feeling in Kashmir towards Iran is an indicator that Kashmiris have not forgotten their identity.
My absolute preference is that identity be wholly expressed within Bharat.
yeah the ‘Muuudi’ got himself played by Bibi in terms of optics. And quite badly at that.
I don’t care about optics as much, but the visit was not just an optics thing, it has damaged Indian credibility in West Asia in the near term.
You can almost begin to understand the abudance of exaggerated caution that Indian foreign policy mandarins operate with. A lot of ‘risks’ that India has taken on the foreign policy front have either failed or been of limited value. Mudi himself made personal outreaches to Xi Jinping multiple times, only to get stabbed in Galwan during Covid. His …’bonhomie’ to Drumpf blew up in his face. And now the Israel visit.
But that’s the game – sometimes things don’t work out. Let’s see.
>This was not about military dependence; this was about Islamophobia. PM was trying to stick it to Indian Muslims.
Sorry, there is little to no basis, to support this …… assertion.
>We can’t go anywhere as far in Pakistan as, say, Israel goes in Lebanon and Syria, not to mention the Occupied Territories.
In the 21st century, dominance over rivals is achieved through economics, not by seizing land. Why would Indians want to go as far as Israel goes in Lebanon/Syria? Why wish for such destruction? I certainly do not. Nor do I think such actions are necessary or contribute to India’s security. I think Op Sindoor was a historic milestone in delivering painful and direct consequences to PakMil – its ‘hard’ assets were targeted in return for a terror attack, and expensive ones. I believe (or at least hope) that this will serve as enough for a deterrent against any potential future Pahalgams. Or at least PakMil sponsorship of such tragedies.
The only ‘downside’ of Op Sindoor is that it served to ‘strengthen’ PakMil’s hold over the Pakistani state. Which is unfortunate for the longterm peace and prosperity arc for the subcontinent. But arguably, from a blunt Indian RW perspective, a strengthening of the PakMil kleptocracy is not necessarily a ‘bad’ thing for India, as it weakens a hostile adversary.
>. I’d like to think we are capable of doing the kinds of things portrayed in the Dhurandhar movies, but I’m skeptical.
The ‘OSINT’ circles are littered with a lot of ‘unknown gunmen’ incidents catching up with some really bad actors in Pakistan. We may never know.
>Pakistan since Op.S. also seems to have acquired more importance in Washington’s eye as a global player.
I have said this before in earlier conversations with XTM – reading Pakistan’s return from virtual ostracization may appear to be chronologically coinciding with post-Pahalgam timeline, but its actually October 7th and the subsequent Israel/US policy requirements that have led to a change in Pakistani fortunes. We will have to wait and see if this is temporary or not.
If the US was going to initiate a war with Iran, it made eminent to …firmly tie up Pakistan on its side. The geographic logic is obvious. That India managed to pummel Pakistan quite effectively in Op Sindoor, only served to help the US by making Pakistani leadership all the more ..pliable and receptive to US offers. TL;DR Drumpf the ‘dealmaker’ saw a moment of maximum leverage on the Pakistanis – one that merely required some favorable soundbytes and a lunch meeting in return. 🙂
Pakistan is tripartite between China, US & GCC to ever be tipped into one side.
The Iranian special affairs consulate is in the Pakistani embassy in DC. Apparently Khaimeini’s favourite country was Pakistan.
It just feels Pakistan is going back to its very adept role as a Military Diplomatic Power. Not a Titan but a Tall One.
Also Economics do matter but they are not the end all and be all; Dubai is infinitely richer than Iran but Dubai has no honour. Man does not live by bread alone.
>Also Economics do matter but they are not the end all and be all; Dubai is infinitely richer than Iran but Dubai has no honour. Man does not live by bread alone.
This I agree. However, India’s …Pakistan ‘problem’ isn’t at all …existential as it has been self-defined by PakMil.
Pakistan achieving some degree of…success as a military diplomatic power is not as much of a problem or an “L” for India, as its being made out to be. Such zero sum games are…unrealistic, I would argue.
who knows, if Pakistan manages to stabilize itself a bit, maybe we can finally start taking baby steps towards ‘peaceful co-existence’. And the days of ‘boycotting’ Pakistani cricketers and artists would be behind us.