Anil Chopra's column: We have redefined the rules of war.

On the night of 6-7 May 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor. It was a well-planned and time-bound military operation in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. What followed in the next 88 hours was a demonstration of India's new and fully developed strategic doctrine: a doctrine that can be defined by clear purpose, technological self-reliance, political will and solidarity of the nation. Operation Sindur rewrote the rules of military confrontation between nuclear-armed neighbours and set a precedent that would determine the security direction of South Asia for decades to come. Most importantly, for the first time, India fought and won against an enemy that actually emerged as a combined force of two countries – Pakistan and China – on the same front. China has distanced itself from the issue, but it has provided Pakistan with frontline military hardware, including active satellite intelligence, electronic warfare support, cyber support and Beyond Range of Perception (BVR) missiles like PL-15. One of the major failures of modern conflicts — from the five-year-long conflict of the Russia-Ukraine war to the current battlefields in the Middle East — has been that there is no exit strategy. Campaigns that have no definite end, weaken economies, demoralize the people, and bring neither victory nor peace. Operation Sindoor deliberately saved itself from this trap. He did what very few modern armies are able to do: define success even before the first missile is fired. India was very clear about its objective in this operation: to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and its sanctuaries and come out on its own terms — with no harm to civilians on either side. The national security agencies had set 9 targets on the basis of sufficient intelligence. Each of them was chosen for their specific role in maintaining the terrorist ecosystem of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahideen. The first attack was completed in just 23 minutes. The entire operation was over within 88 hours. After this, India forced the enemy to ceasefire on its own terms. This doctrine—that is, entering with a purpose, acting with precision and getting out without any redundancy—is a style of controlled warfare rarely seen in modern military history. The geographical scope of Operation Sindur also broke the previous boundaries. India did not limit its initial attacks to PoK, but it also reached deep into Pakistan's mainland Punjab. The attacks were carried out more than 140 kilometers from the Indian border. The message was clear: no place is out of our reach. These attacks completely destroyed the command system of the most dangerous terrorist organizations operating at the behest of Pakistan. Most importantly, Operation Sindur exposed the nuclear blackmail. For decades, Pakistan's nuclear umbrella was used to give concessions to state-sponsored terrorism. (These are the author's own views)