New Delhi, June 16 -- Around a month after the military engagement between India and Pakistan ceased seems a good time to ask whether Operation Sindoor fulfilled the objectives it aimed to achieve. The Indian government's equivocation on whether and how the Donald Trump-led US administration helped to broker that ceasefire has left the issue of what exactly happened to stop the 'near war' situation dangling.

After the ghastly terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, India's clearly stated objective for launching Operation Sindoor was to attack and destroy terrorist bases and infrastructure inside Pakistan. A total of nine such locations were targeted and considerable damage inflicted on buildings and personnel in them who, clearly, had the...