New Delhi, May 8 -- Nearly two weeks after the Pahalgam massacre, India retaliated with precision cross-border strikes under Operation Sindoor, targeting nine terror camps and headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). While these strikes underscored India's military capability and political will, the larger message was more than punitive-it marked a paradigm shift in deterrence strategy.

Credible Deterrence

Historically, India's response to Pakistani provocations followed a punitive deterrence model. The Uri surgical strikes in 2016 and the Balakot airstrikes in 2019 were calibrated actions designed to send a message: any aggression would be met with retaliation. Yet, these lim...