By M S Nazki
In a stark but predictable replay of history, Pakistan has once again responded to India’s anti-terrorist Operation Sindoor not with diplomacy or accountability, but with blind aggression, indiscriminate shelling, and deliberate targeting of innocent civilians. Following India’s precise and measured counterterrorism operation against terror hubs in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Punjab, Pakistan chose to retaliate not by confronting the perpetrators of terror, but by turning its guns on defenseless border villages in Jammu and Kashmir.
This pattern of asymmetric retaliation has become synonymous with Pakistan’s state policy—a combination of provocation, victim-playing, and terrorism masquerading as national defense. The latest escalation has tragically reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwillingness to confront the terror infrastructure it harbors, funds, and defends.
Operation Sindoor – India’s Precision Strike Against Terror:
The events that triggered this cycle of violence began on April 22, 2025, when a brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, carried out by militants from Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians. Both groups are widely known to be patronized by Pakistan’s deep state. In response, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, a meticulously planned strike targeting nine terrorist camps in Bahawalpur, Muzaffarabad, Kotli, and Muridke—notorious breeding grounds for cross-border extremism.
Using Rafale jets armed with precision-guided munitions, Indian forces surgically neutralized terror command centers, deliberately avoiding civilian infrastructure or military installations, affirming that the mission was strictly an anti-terrorist response, not an act of war.
Pakistan’s Predictable and Perilous Retaliation:
Rather than confronting the uncomfortable truth about its terror networks, Pakistan resorted to its default reaction: heavy artillery fire targeting Indian civilians. Within minutes of Operation Sindoor, Pakistani forces rained mortar shells on villages in Rajouri , Poonch and Uri destroying homes, injuring several villagers, and displacing families. Temporary bunkers were activated to shelter the terrified population.
This is not an act of military defiance, but one of desperation. Instead of confronting Indian forces, Pakistan targets unarmed villagers. This is not war—it is state-sanctioned terror from across the border. Such actions reveal not a confident nation defending itself, but a fractured regime lashing out in fear, guilt, and failure.
A Repeating Cycle of Denial, Deflection, and Aggression:
Pakistan’s behavior following Operation Sindoor is neither new nor surprising. After every major Indian counterterror operation—be it the 2016 Uri surgical strikes, the 2019 Balakot airstrike, or now Sindoor—Pakistan’s reaction follows a familiar and cynical script:
Deny the existence of terror camps.
Deflect blame by raising the Kashmir issue
Aggressively target civilians along the LoC to provoke a humanitarian crisis and attract international intervention.
The most tragic aspect of this pattern is its human cost. In Jammu ,Poonch,Rajouri, & Uri Several civilians have been killed and Dozens of Injureds as of May 8, 9 ,10 & 11 Schools have been shut down, farmers have abandoned fields, and families now live in fear within underground shelters.
The roots of this posturing lie deep in Pakistan’s military history. From Kargil’s Operation Badr, where Pakistani troops infiltrated Indian positions disguised as militants and were later disowned by their own army, to the Pulwama attack, Pakistan has persistently used terrorism as a tool of state policy. After India’s Balakot airstrike in 2019, Pakistan responded not by dismantling terror camps, but by launching a failed air incursion and intensifying shelling on civilian areas.
Between 2020 and 2023 alone, over 4,000 ceasefire violations were recorded—almost all aimed at civilian zones. In 2021, a mortar shell hit a classroom in Mendhar, killing four schoolchildren. These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a systemic pattern designed to provoke, distract, and deflect from international scrutiny over Pakistan’s terror ecosystem.
Why Pakistan Fears Direct Confrontation:
The reason Pakistan does not retaliate against military targets is simple: it cannot. With increasing military asymmetry, internal political chaos, and economic instability, the Pakistani establishment—led by the ISI and the military elite—resorts to a dual policy: protect terrorists as “strategic assets” while provoking India into appearing as the aggressor.
When global pressure mounts, terror leaders are taken into “protective custody,” only to re-emerge months later under different names. Meanwhile, Pakistan unleashes artillery on Indian border villages to manufacture an illusion of equal retaliation and feed its domestic narrative of resistance.
The International Community Takes Note:
Unlike in the past, the global response to Operation Sindoor has reflected a more nuanced understanding of South Asia’s dynamics. The United States recognized India’s right to defend itself against terrorism. France issued a clear call for Pakistan to take concrete action against terror actors operating from its territory. The age-old narrative of “both sides must show restraint” is giving way to a more realistic appraisal of Pakistan’s duplicity.
India’s Clarity vs Pakistan’s Chaos:
India’s Operation Sindoor was an act of surgical precision, moral clarity, and defensive necessity. It was aimed at the root of a decades-long terror problem festering across the border. Pakistan’s response, by contrast, was a grotesque theater of cowardice—using innocent civilians as shields, as pawns, and as propaganda tools.
What India targeted were instruments of terror. What Pakistan targeted were classrooms, farms, and homes.
The world must recognize this distinction.
Conclusion – History Will Judge:
As shelling continues along the LoC, India stands resolute—not in conquest, but in the defense of its people, its borders, and its values. Pakistan, yet again, retreats behind a smokescreen of denials, distractions, and the ruin it unleashes upon others.
Each shell Pakistan fires into Indian territory is not just an act of violence—it is an admission of failure. A failure to reform. A failure to stand as a responsible global actor. A failure to prioritize peace over provocation.
India’s response to terrorism will always be marked by strength, strategy, and sovereignty. Pakistan’s will continue to be haunted by the ghosts it refuses to confront.
And in that contrast, history will forever remember who stood tall—and who chose to hide.
