Srinagar, Dec. 1 -- Here is a peculiar trait in the Indian state's political psychology - an inconsistency that has persisted from Nehru to Modi, from soft separatism to muscular nationalism. India prides itself on eliminating terrorism at the "lower rungs," yet hesitates when the theatre of conflict shifts to the elite spaces where narratives are manufactured, legitimized, and internationalized. It wins the skirmishes but shies away from confronting the factories that produce the skirmishes. This is not a military flaw. It is a civilizational confusion.

For decades, India's internal conflicts - be it in Kashmir, Punjab, or the Northeast - have been successfully controlled at the operational level. The soldier does his job. The police of...