New Delhi, Oct. 31 -- Anti-terror financing watchdog FATF's recent condemnation of the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack shows that Operation Sindoor continues to be in play. For, Op Sindoor wasn't a mere retaliatory strike for the Pahalgam attack. It was a natural progression of the surgical strikes of 2016 and the Balakot air strikes of 2019. As a multi-domain campaign - kinetic, cyber, diplomatic, informational - Op Sindoor was designed not just to punish but to also message that Pakistan's long standing strategy of bleeding India by a thousand cuts could not be pursued without commensurate costs.
For decades, Pakistan has sought to undermine India through proxy hybrid warfare. The plan relied on diverse, deniable assets and a bet that In...