Opinion | Operation Sindoor: India’s Saga Of Steel-Forged Resolve
Operation Sindoor marks a decisive chapter in India’s fight against terrorism, showcasing strength, precision, and an unbreakable will to defend sovereignty
WHEN PATIENCE TURNS TO POWER
“बिनय न मानत जलधि जड़, गए तीनि दिन बीति। बोले राम सकोप तब, भय बिनु होइ न प्रीति।"
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In this sacred verse of the Ramcharitmanas, we find a truth both eternal and elemental: that forbearance, though noble and enduring, when taken for granted or mistaken for weakness, transforms into a righteous and unrelenting force.
India has always drawn strength from its deep well of patience, but history warns that even the Himalayas erupt when provoked beyond limit. And so began a chapter in India’s destiny where dharma was no longer whispered but declared with fire.
On the fateful day of 22 April 2025, the serene and sacred valleys of Pahalgam were defiled by the blood of 26 innocent civilians; victims not of a war, but of a cowardly terrorist ambush. Across the length and breadth of India, grief rippled into resolve; the vermilion of our sorrow became the banner of our justice. Thus began Operation Sindoor, named for the sacred mark that terrorists sought to erase but which India now bore proudly — a promise etched in steel and fire.
THE CLOCK TICKS TOWARD JUSTICE
In the hours following that atrocity, India’s Cabinet Committee on Security moved decisively: the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, the Attari checkpoint sealed with a 1 May deadline for stranded travellers, SAARC visa exemptions for Pakistani nationals revoked, and military attachés in New Delhi declared persona non grata.
With those diplomatic levers shifted, India signalled that no bloodletting on its soil would go unanswered. Intelligence agencies, weaving satellite imagery with intercepted communications and human networks, mapped out nine terror camps where JeM, LeT, and Hizbul Mujahideen cadres trained, indoctrinated, and plotted mayhem. Guided by unbreakable rules of engagement — no civilian targets, only confirmed terror infrastructure — our armed forces prepared to deliver retribution with surgical precision.
PENETRATING THE TERROR HEARTLAND
In the pre-dawn hours of 7 May, between 1:04 and 1:28 AM, Indian missiles cut through Pakistani skies; swift, precise, and unstoppable, long before the first vermilion streaks of sunrise touched the horizon. India’s indigenous BrahMos missiles roared with precision, turning Pakistan’s terror camps into smouldering ruins, killing hundreds of terrorists — a testament to our technological supremacy and strategic will. Munitions obliterated workshops of violence at Bahawalpur’s Markaz Subhan Allah, Muridke’s Markaz Taiba, Tehra Kalan’s Sarjal, Sialkot’s Mehmoona Joya, Barnala’s Markaz Ahle Hadith, Kotli’s Markaz Abbas and Maskar Raheel Shahid, Muzaffarabad’s Shawai Nalla and Syedna Bilal Camp. Each strike erased a nucleus of terror, striking at the ideological heartbeats that had sent killers across our border.
ESCALATION MET WITH IRON RESOLVE
On 8 May, ignoring India’s clear warning against escalation, humiliated Pakistan launched drone strikes across 28 Indian border cities, including Amritsar and Srinagar, targeting civilian zones — all of which were intercepted mid-air with 100 per cent accuracy by made-in-India air defence systems like Akash batteries, Russian-made S-400, medium-range SAM Barak-8, older AD systems like Pechora missiles, low-level anti-aircraft guns, shoulder-fired precision interceptors, and a multi-layered air defence with indigenous integrated drone detection and interdiction systems. Not a single Pakistani drone managed to inflict harm. Every one of them was neutralised mid-air, intercepted with surgical precision. No civilian lives lost due to drones, no structures breached.
This isn’t just the triumph of radar and firepower; it is the triumph of discipline, of invisible sleepless eyes watching the skies. For those in Jammu, Pathankot, Akhnoor, Udhampur, and other cities who heard the shrill alarms and saw missiles arc into the night, this wasn’t a headline, it was hard-earned breath. What the rest of India reads as a statistic, the borderland citizens experience as survival. And behind that survival stands the unwavering brilliance of our Armed Forces, whose calm precision in chaos deserves not just our applause, but our awe.
OVERCOMING THE DRAGON’S SHIELD
India’s response was punishing: Pakistan’s HQ-9 air defence system in Lahore was neutralised, and strategic hits were delivered on Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and other cities. As precautionary civilian evacuations began along the border, 9 May marked yet another day of disruption across Indian border cities; schools were shut, tension ran high, and unidentified drones loomed over multiple regions, signalling a deepening phase of vigilance and volatility.
Before neutralising Pakistan’s airbases, India executed yet another decisive move: blinding the enemy’s radar and air defence shield. Lockheed Martin’s TPS-77 long-range arrays, capable of scanning over 450 km, were obliterated. Alongside them, Chinese-supplied LY-80, HQ-9P, FN-6, and PL-15 surface-to-air systems were rendered inert, collapsing Pakistan’s layered air defence and exposing China’s defence tech globally. Six frontline fighter jets, including Chinese JF-17s, J-10Cs, and American F-16s, were downed in the opening hours. With early warning sensors silenced and widespread cyber disruption crippling command hubs in Rawalpindi and Karachi, Indian missiles swept through once-protected skies. The operational core of global jihad had been surgically removed.
IAF BLITZ CRIPPLED PAF’S AIRBASES
By 10 May, repeated LoC violations and Pakistan’s audacity — and failed attempts to target Indian military establishments — triggered an even more brutal response. The cost of provocation was clear: India dismantled critical Pakistani air bases, runway strips, air defence systems, and key military infrastructure, neutralising hundreds of Pakistan’s military personnel. The message was unmissable: no depth, no distance, no defence can shield Pakistan from India’s resolve and reach.
Eleven Pakistan Air Force bases — Nur Khan, Rafiqi, Murid, Sukkur, Sialkot, Pasrur, Chunian, Sargodha, Skardu, Bholari and Jacobabad — were cratered beyond immediate repair. Their airbase runways lay in ruins, hangars smouldering, while Indian Air Force jets patrolled assertively along the border; unmoved, unchallenged, unshaken. The message was clear: “We don’t need to cross the line to break your spine."
MINDS BEHIND THE MISSILES
Not to mention, behind every missile’s roar stands the quiet sweat of our defence scientists and engineers. From DRDO’s labs emerged the Akash-NG system that intercepted hostile drones, HAL’s upgraded radars that guided our aircraft through electronic warfare’s maelstrom, to BEL’s Akashteer: India’s first fully indigenous AI war-cloud, satellite-free and foreign-proof. Above it all, ISRO’s 10 satellites still working round the clock, beamed back live damage assessments, ensuring that every strike counted. In those hidden crucibles of innovation, India’s strategic edge was forged.
INDIAN NAVY’S SILENT SUPREMACY
From the panic-laced waves in Pakistan to the occupied valleys of PoK and trembling waters of the Arabian Sea, India’s resolve soared. The Indian Navy too was not behind; within ninety-six hours of Pahalgam, the Carrier Battle Group — INS Vikramaditya and its MiG-29K wing, escorted by destroyers, frigates, and submarines — held the Northern Arabian Sea in iron embrace. Live weapon firings validated layered fleet-air defences, while Airborne Early Warning helicopters screened the skies. Pakistani warships cowered in port, knowing that India’s maritime fist could shatter any threat. This tri-service ballet, choreographed by the Navy, Army, and Air Force under a unified resolution, compelled Pakistan to plead for a halt on 10 May: for India, a tactical pause, not a ceasefire.
PAKISTAN PLEADS FOR CEASEFIRE
At 15:35 hours IST on 10 May, India’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, received a hotline call from his Pakistani counterpart: reeling under the weight of devastation, a desperate plea for ceasefire. India, firmly in command and unswayed by Pakistan’s theatrics, made no mention of a ceasefire. Instead, it conveyed a measured understanding of a “stoppage of firing": a subtle yet sharp reminder — a distinction that underscored who controlled the battlefield and who begged for mercy. Even after the agreed-upon understanding of “stoppage of firing", Pakistan, true to its treacherous instincts, couldn’t resist testing India’s resolve.
EYE-IN-THE-SKY EVIDENCE
Within hours, swarms of low-grade Chinese and Turkish drones dared to probe Indian defences, only to be shredded mid-air by our indigenous air defence systems. Meanwhile, the Pakistani establishment cloaked itself in denial, spinning propaganda-laced press briefings and offering not a shred of credible proof to back its empty boasts. Satellite images of their gutted airbases and their silence on other already destroyed significant military assets screamed louder than any statement. In stark contrast, India responded with military dignity, releasing full-motion video proof of each strike, reinforcing not just the accuracy of its operations, but the transparency and professional pride of its armed forces.
THE ENEMY’S EXTENDED HAND
Indian Armed Forces roared in PoK and deep inside Pakistan, but let us not forget: the combat does not end with the last missile fired. Pakistan did not fight this combat alone. Behind its crumbling bunkers and burnt radar towers stood the silent machinery of its enablers, China and Turkey. Both nations didn’t just cheer from the sidelines; they supplied drones, missile systems, battlefield surveillance — emboldening a regime that thrives on blood, deceit, and jihad. Let us call it what it is: complicity in terrorism. Every drone that flew from a Pakistani terror hub had names stamped from Ankara. Every encrypted transmission shielded from our jammers had roots in Beijing. And as Indian airbases were put on alert, Islamabad found confidence in the distant echo of Baku’s government support.
TIME TO CUT THE STRINGS
Is this acceptable to us as a sovereign nation? Absolutely not. It is time we weaponise not just our armed forces but also our economic muscle and cultural consciousness. We Indians must boycott their goods, cut down student exchanges, and cancel our trips to these nations that help their economies flourish while they finance our wounds. For too long, we have been silent consumers while our enemies cashed in on our markets and minds. India must declare in no uncertain terms: those who assist our enemies, even by stealth, will face the full weight of Indian resolve.
STEEL IN THEIR VOICE, FIRE IN THEIR VOW
On the evening of 10 May, as the guns fell silent across the Line of Control, India’s military leadership stepped forward not with humility, but with measured steel. In New Delhi, at the tri-service press briefing, Commodore R. N. Nair spoke for every sailor, soldier, and airman when he affirmed that “we remain ever prepared, ever vigilant; any misadventure will meet decisive response." His words, carried on the assured tenor of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and echoed by officers such as Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofia Qureshi, wove together a singular truth: India may choose to speak softly, but its instruments of power roar with unerring precision.
Less than twenty-four hours later, on 11 May, the tone sharpened further. At another tri-service briefing, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai issued a cold warning that “cost escalation is left to your imagination; it will be fierce and punitive." Vice Admiral A. N. Pramod followed with equal gravity: “This time, if Pakistan dares take any action — and Pakistan knows what we are going to do — that’s all," while Air Marshal A.K. Bharti reminded the world that IAF’s job is to “hit the targets, not to count the body bags." In those few sentences, India’s military high command crystallised a framework of calibrated deterrence: unflinching resolve backed by unassailable capability.
PM MODI’S MANIFESTO OF RESOLVE
On the evening of 12 May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the people of India was nothing less than a manifesto of India’s sovereign will. Standing before the Tricolour, he declared with unshakeable resolve that “Operation Sindoor has redefined the fight against terror, setting a new benchmark, a new normal."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid down a blistering triad that now defines India’s new security paradigm: a red line etched in fire.
First, Decisive Retaliation: No act of terrorism against India will go unanswered. The response will be swift, surgical, and crushing: not limited by geography or convention. Terror camps, launchpads, or handlers — wherever they are — will be struck at their source at India’s choosing of time, place, and force.
Second, No Tolerance for Nuclear Blackmail: The era of Pakistan hiding behind its nuclear bluff is over. India will no longer be held hostage to the illusion of deterrence when the enemy sponsors cowardly acts of proxy war. If you shield your terrorists with nuclear threats, be prepared — India will pierce through that veil with precision and unflinching resolve.
Third, No Distinction Between Terrorists and Their Sponsors: The mask has fallen. Be it Lashkar, Jaish, TRF, or their army and political overlords in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, India now sees no line between terrorists and the states that protect them. Anyone providing safe haven, funding, or ideological cover to terror groups will be treated as direct combatants. Those who aid terror will fall with terror.
AMONG THE GUARDIANS OF THE SKIES
The next morning, at Adampur Air Force Station on 13 May, the Prime Minister took the pulse of the warriors who had struck so swiftly and so surely. “‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ is not just a slogan, it is the oath of every soldier who risks his life for the nation," he proclaimed, asserting that our chants “send shivers down the enemy’s spine." He hailed the operation as “a trinity of India’s policy, intent, and decisive capability," and praised the flawless execution that saw our missiles and drones “demolish fortifications; the enemy never even saw it coming." His words carried an unambiguous warning: “Not just terrorist bases and airbases, but even Pakistan’s malicious intent and audacity have been destroyed."
ECHOES OF A BROADER CAMPAIGN
In the quiet that has followed, one truth resonated: Operation Sindoor is not an isolated chapter, but the opening salvo of a broader campaign to reaffirm India’s rightful dominion over every inch that falls within its constitutional and historical map. We refrained from deep occupation in PoK not from weakness, but from wisdom; understanding that true victory lies in sustainable security, not transient conquest. By dismantling terror hubs and exposing nuclear pretensions, we forged the conditions for eventual restoration without igniting a continental war.
Concluding this saga of calibrated force and moral clarity, India stands at a new dawn. Our armed forces — Army, Navy and Air Force, BSF, Paramilitary forces, and the entire constellation of defence scientists and engineers — have proven that the vermilion of Sindoor is the colour of our resolve. We mourned the fallen in Pahalgam with candle-lit vigils, and we answered their sacrifice with thunderous retribution that will echo through the pages of history. Yet our mission remains unfinished: to secure every valley, every ridge, and every sliver of our sovereignty, until PoK once again thrives under the embrace of the Indian Constitution.
In the end, the legacy of Operation Sindoor will be its demonstration that India can be both compassionate and unyielding, principled and powerful, moral and militarily masterful. We have shown that for India, justice is not a slogan, but a strategy; and that when the nation’s courage is tested, we will not ask for permission to defend ourselves. We will simply act, with the indomitable spirit of a civilisation that has long held the banner of dharma aloft, ensuring that no aggression ever finds sanctuary on our sacred soil.
IN MEMORY OF THEIR COURAGE
To the bravehearts martyred during Operation Sindoor — soldiers who wore the uniform of our nation: Jawan Murali Nayak, Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar Sharma, IAF Sergeant Surendra Kumar Moga, Rifleman Sunil Kumar, BSF Sub-Inspector Mohammed Imtiaz, and BSF Constable Deepak Chingakham — your supreme sacrifice is why we breathe in freedom today.
We also bow our heads to innocent civilians who lost their lives to cowardly attacks in Pahalgam and during Operation Sindoor.
And to the unsung citizens of Jammu, Poonch, Akhnoor, Udhampur, Pathankot, Amritsar and beyond: you endured drone strikes, missile assaults, shelling, and sleepless nights. Your homes were shattered, families torn apart, yet you chose to stay — resilient in the face of terror. While we watched from comfort, you lived every second under fire.
To the emergency responders, civil defence volunteers, doctors, and health workers: your courage may not wear medals, but it holds the country together. India remembers. India salutes. India owes you all.
For in the land of Lord Rama, when the vermilion is smeared by blood, patience is not silence — it is the breath before the roar. Operation Sindoor was that roar.
Deeply interested in India’s geopolitical and internal security discourse, Deepak Singh is currently functioning as the Divisional Incharge of the BJYM, BJP, Jharkhand. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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