Washington, DC [US] May 15 : The stupendous success of Operation Sindoor in eliminating terror sites deep inside Pakistan and its ability to stave off the Pakistani offensive has made strategic experts sit up and take notice.
India and Emerging Asia Economics, Center for Strategic and International Studies Chair, Richard Rossow says that Pakistan has now realised that India is no longer just going to play the game of diplomatic countermeasures if it continues with its misadventures.
"We have seen a steady escalation. The times that India suffered terror attacks, looking back to 2016, when India took the step on initiating a cross-border ground assault against terror camps in PoK. Then, in 2019, where there was an air assault on Pakistan, this was a different form of escalation... Once the escalation began, for India to begin hitting military bases was a step in a new direction... It's an important moment when I think Pakistan understands that India is not just going to play the normal game of diplomatic measures, counterattacks and the separation that Pakistan always hoped for between terror camps and military. India sees a lot less difference than what they did in times past," Rossow told ANI.
Rossow also says that India managed to get the upper hand even dilpomatically with most nations speaking up in favour of the action taken by India against the terror operatives.
"India has a lot deeper relationships with a much larger set of countries. They certainly have made their voice known over time on concerns about the ever-present threat of terrorism emanating from Pakistan. To see that most countries that stepped in and voiced an opinion on this were siding with India. The countries that felt otherwise might have been a little bit quieter or offered their support more quietly to Islamabad. India has done a lot of work on trying to be a leader in the Global South, its leadership at the G20, engagement with the West and the Quad... Not surprisingly, India finds a lot more friends now when something like this escalates than it would have had 25-30 years ago," he said.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, and precise strikes hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Twenty-six people were killed in the heinous terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.