Beyond ‘Operation Sindoor’

Operation Sindoor’ lasted for only four days but politicisation of Modi’s adventure continues unabated. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is desperately trying to reap electoral mileage from ‘Operation Sindoor’ in the forthcoming state assembly elections in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. They did the same thing after the Balakot surgical strike. This time, Modi’s ‘operation sindoor’ marches in a peaceful way through a diplomatic blitz. The opposing delegations are participating in a veritable diplomatic road show, stopping in multiple countries. After limited hot wars, both India and Pakistan have waged the diplomatic battle of narratives, to address the main domestic audience. This diplomatic offensive takes policy bandwidth away from pressing matters at home, including the economic slowdown. The myth of the much publicised fourth largest economy, with manufacturing declining steadily and unemployment mounting alarmingly, is vanishing very fast.

Modi dispatched seven delegations to 33 foreign capitals–including places such as Bogota and Ljubljana that have virtually no stakes in the India-Pakistan stand-off. And Pakistan, which sent two delegations to five capitals, enjoys some kind of advantage because Islamabad has courted international involvement and media, especially on the issue of Kashmir. The government of Pakistan has vested interests in spreading its message of Pakistan’s innocence by describing India’s action against Pakistani-managed terror camps as aggression. Pakistan has chosen the path of hybrid war to destabilise Kashmir for decades. They prefer low-cost warfare by mobilising and training terror outfits while showing the world that they were not aggressors. For all practical purposes, Pakistan is a jihad factory producing jihadis in thousands to keep the Indian army busy round the year, all along the Line of Control. Perhaps jihadi manufacturing is a lucrative industry as it gets funding from international sources, employing the unemployed as cannon-fodders. America originally created a terror infrastructure, but it soon boomeranged. The same is true of Pakistan. In truth, as for global terrorism, Pakistan was a partner of America in crime against humanity.

The members of India’s delegation are indeed drawn from multiple parties, including opposition parties. Those in Pakistan’s delegation are too drawn from different parties, but they exclude the main opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of Imran Khan, who is now in jail.

These days, Pakistan’s play to demonise India is losing its edge as much of the world views India as an important strategic and commercial partner. That makes the West hesitant to embrace Islamabad’s pitch for global mediation on Kashmir, a position consistently rejected by New Delhi.

With each side using increasing amounts of conventional force, the international community has focused more on concerns about nuclear escalation than on the terrorist attacks that triggered India’s ‘operation sindoor’. But New Delhi can’t ease the world’s fears of nuclear confrontation. And Islamabad continually plays up those fears and even redirects the focus toward worries about terrorism on its soil, for which it alleges India’s covert involvement.

Right now, Pakistan is facing a terror drama of its own creation in its western border region, while the Baloch insurgency has reached a critical stage. If Balochistan succeeds in attaining independence, Pakistan will lose 42 percent of its territory, with most of its mineral resources. The plight of Baloch people has been largely ignored by the so-called international community and international human rights bodies. The Punjabi domination on the Pakistani polity led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. The days are not far when Balochistan will be a sovereign republic, reducing Pakistan in reality to the Punjab Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, the ruling elites on both sides of the fence view their delegations’ efforts as an example of successful diplomacy, but many think the exercise was a pointless junket as it is not going to produce lasting peace in the region. Ironically, Pakistan was elected chairman of the UNSC Taliban Sanctions Committee and Vice-Chairman of the UNSC counter terrorism committee. A ‘terrorist state’ is being asked to monitor counter-terrorism! All these happened during and after ‘Operation Sindoor’ and when MPs’ delegations were briefing countries of the world.

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Frontier
Vol 58, No. 1, June 29 - Jul 5, 2025