India, May 19 -- The recent India-Pakistan conflict triggered by the ghastly Pahalgam massacre (April 22) demonstrated a recharged Indian national will to break the cycles of military confrontation steered by Pakistan to the accompaniment of its nuclear sabre rattling. Overconfident that this grand strategy of bleeding India by a thousand cuts was working, it was publicly proclaimed to be notched up several levels by the current Pakistani army chief's speech (April 16) in a language befitting a Jihadi; encounters involving highly trained terrorists had intensified several weeks earlier.

The Indian response was determined and fierce; the government decisions were well-planned to exert maximum pressure by paring down the relationship to ba...