For decades, India’s political leadership maintained a restrained approach towards Pakistan, especially in the aftermath of terrorist attacks.
Whether it was the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai carnage or the 2000 car bomb attack on the Jammu & Kashmir legislative Assembly complex, the response was largely limited to TV debates, diplomatic statements and temporary outrage.
Action rarely followed. Pakistan, in turn, exploited this passivity by sheltering terror groups and intimidating India through nuclear blackmail, branding South Asia as a nuclear flashpoint to discourage retaliation. However, this paradigm of “long-standing strategic inertia” underwent a decisive change after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014.
From inertia to strategic action
During the early part of his first term after getting elected in 2014, Modi attempted to repair relations with Pakistan through concrete action and goodwill gestures.
He invited then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his swearing-in ceremony and later paid an unexpected visit to Lahore in 2015 to attend a wedding reception at Sharif’s residence, signaling an unprecedented outreach from New Delhi for peaceful and constructive engagement.
However, soon these overtures were met by betrayal, seen in the Pathankot airbase attack in 2016, followed by the Uri attack later that year and then the Pulwama massacre in 2019. Recognizing that peace negotiations can’t coexist with terrorism, Modi recalibrated India’s Pakistan strategy. He moved from restraint to response—not just symbolic, but kinetic—delivering a strong message that perpetuating terror against India would have serious consequences.
This strategic recalibration was evident during the Uri incident in September 2016, when India launched surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) against terrorist launch pads, an unprecedented move at the time.
However, the definite shift emerged after the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019, which claimed the lives of 40 Indian security personnel. In response, the Indian Air Force (IAF) launched airstrikes deep into Pakistani territory in Balakot, targeting Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps there.
For the first time since the 1971 war, Indian jets crossed into Pakistani airspace to launch an aggressive strike. This action challenged not only Pakistan’s long-standing nuclear deterrence narrative but also New Delhi’s own self-imposed strategic caution.
It sent a clear message that India would no longer be constrained by the fears of nuclear escalation when it comes to taking actions against cross-border terrorism. This bold move not only avenged the Pulwama attack, but it also reshaped the dynamics of this relationship.
Operation Sindoor: a new normal
This assertiveness culminated in Operation Sindoor in May 2025, which was conducted in response to the devastating Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26 civilians.
The operation targeted nine terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK), using a sophisticated mix of Russian, French, Israeli and indigenous Indian weapons.
A diverse range of platforms—including Rafale jets armed with SCALP missiles, Su-30MKIs carrying BrahMos, Israeli SkyStriker drones and the indigenous SAMAR air defense system—were precisely deployed based on target profiles, demonstrating India’s multidimensional attack capability.
All selected targets were coordinated and hit with pinpoint accuracy, demonstrating India’s increased military preparedness, technological capability and deep intelligence penetration in Pakistan. The Pakistani-Chinese air defense systems, which included the HQ-9 and LY-80, failed to intercept the strikes, exposing serious vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s defensive infrastructure.
The operation was carried out with surgical precision, avoiding civilian casualties while delivering a strong and unmistakable strategic message. In his address to the nation on May 12, 2025, Modi described it as a “doctrinal shift,” declaring unequivocally that “talks and terror cannot go together.” He warned that any future act of terrorism would be considered an “act of war,” putting Pakistan’s conduct under strict scrutiny.
Modi made it clear that Operation Sindoor is not the conclusion, but rather the beginning of a “new normal” in India’s Pakistan strategy, in which measured, robust and proactive military actions will be the norm. His declaration marked a significant transformation in India’s strategic doctrine, signaling a decisive move away from reactive postures toward a sustained policy of deterrence and national assertiveness.
Furthermore, in a bold move to increase non-military pressure on Pakistan, New Delhi suspended the Indus Waters Treaty—a historic bilateral agreement—marking a strategic recalibration in its approach.
The treaty, signed in 1960 under the supervision of the World Bank, was aimed at equally distributing the waters of the Indus River system and has long been regarded as a rare example of cooperation between the two nations, even during times of turbulence and conflict.
Modi emphasized this fundamental shift by declaring, “Water and blood cannot flow together,” implying that India will no longer separate terrorism from its broader political and economic consequences. This indicates New Delhi’s changing attitude to using non-military tools to exert pressure on Pakistan.
Beyond the nuclear bluff
Perhaps the most significant shift under Modi has been India’s resolute dismissal of Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail. In the past, Pakistan has used the threat of nuclear retaliation following terror strikes to deter Indian responses, resulting in strategic restraint from New Delhi.
However, Modi’s government has refused to be intimidated, stating unequivocally that fear of escalation would not dictate India’s security posture. Where earlier attacks resulted in inertia and rhetoric, the Modi era has introduced decisive measures. Operations like Balakot and Sindoor have demonstrated that limited, calibrated military responses are possible even in a nuclearized context, thereby altering the deterrent balance.
By doing so, India has directly challenged Pakistan’s portrayal of South Asia as a permanent nuclear flashpoint, with the goal of drawing international attention to Kashmir. Instead, New Delhi has shown that strategic firmness can coexist with regional stability, reducing Pakistan’s leverage in global diplomacy.
Further strengthening this posture was a clear emphasis on unity in the face of terror. During Operation Sindoor, the Modi government strategically countered terrorist attempts to sow communal discord by highlighting India’s pluralistic ethos.
Two Indian women officers—Colonel Sophia Qureshi, a Muslim officer from the Corps of Signals, and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, a Hindu—led the official press briefings, symbolizing India’s rejection of the communal narratives that terrorists often seek to exploit.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri stated that the Pahalgam attack, in which civilians were killed on the basis of their Hindu religious identity, was part of a large design to incite communal unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and across the country, aiming to destabilize India as a whole.
By having these two officers of different faiths brief the media together, Modi’s leadership delivered a strong message that such attempts to divide India will fail. The government’s coordinated response, both in terms of military action and leadership decisions, highlighted India’s firm resolve to combat terrorism while upholding national cohesion.
Too much terrorism
Further, Modi’s recent remarks—that “terrorism is not only a serious threat to India but also dangerous for Pakistan itself”—reflect a broader regional concern.
Pakistan’s use of extremist groups as strategic tools has increasingly backfired, with entities like the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) now posing a direct threat to its internal security, targeting both civilians and security personnel. Despite this blowback, Pakistan continues to present itself as a victim on the global stage while failing to dismantle the terror networks operating within its borders.
For sustainable peace and improved bilateral relations, Pakistan must embark on genuine de-radicalization efforts. This includes reforming its education system, redefining its religious discourse and empowering democratic institutions to curb extremist influence. Countries like Saudi Arabia, through initiatives such as Vision 2030, offer a model for balancing tradition with modernization.
Without meaningful reform, Pakistan risks further instability, eroding not only its internal sovereignty but also the prospects for regional peace. The stakes, therefore, are not limited to Pakistan alone—they are critical for the future stability of South Asia as a whole.
Modi has fundamentally changed India’s approach towards Pakistan. By rejecting appeasement, confronting nuclear intimidation and employing a calibrated mix of military, diplomatic and economic tools, India has redefined its strategic doctrine—where peace is contingent on accountability, and deterrence is actively enforced.
Bold moves such as the Balakot airstrike, Operation Sindoor and suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty represent a broader recalibration of India’s strategy towards Pakistan based on assertiveness, resilience and strategic clarity.
Modi’s leadership has demonstrated that India would no longer accept terrorism as the price of peace and that diplomacy must be backed up with strength. To achieve lasting peace and stability in South Asia, Pakistan must abandon the use of terrorism as a state policy and pursue meaningful and progressive reforms based on forward-looking thinking.
Only then can the region move beyond confrontation toward genuine peace and stability.
Idress Aftab is a research analyst at the Centre for Foreign Policy Research, New Delhi
