Operation Sindoor marks a strategic inflection point in India’s military history, representing the most significant escalation in India-Pakistan relations since the Kargil conflict in 1999. This edited volume examines the 88-hour confrontation that followed the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, analyzing India’s precision strikes across Pakistan and the emergence of a new deterrence doctrine.
Edited by Lt Gen D S Hooda (Retd) and Dr Happymon Jacob, the collection brings together leading military practitioners, diplomats, and strategic analysts to dissect the operation’s multifaceted implications. The contributors examine India’s shift from “strategic restraint” to treating terrorism as acts of war, the nuclear dimensions of subcontinental conflict, and the role of technology in modern warfare.
The volume explores critical themes including escalation management under nuclear shadow, China-Pakistan military cooperation, water diplomacy through the suspended Indus Waters Treaty, and the international community’s response. Essays analyze operational lessons, intelligence challenges, defense indigenization, and the evolution of crisis management mechanisms.
Through expert analysis of military strategy, diplomatic responses, and strategic outcomes, this comprehensive collection provides essential insights into the changing nature of deterrence, conventional operations under nuclear constraints, and the future trajectory of India-Pakistan relations in an increasingly complex regional security environment.
List of Authors:
Editors:
- Lt Gen D S Hooda (Retd)
- Dr Happymon Jacob
Contributors:
- Brig Arun Sahgal (Retd)
- Ambuj Sahu
- Hely Desai
- Rajesh Basrur
- Sidharth Raimedhi
- Capt Sarabjeet S. Parmar (Retd)
- Ambassador Rakesh Sood
- Lt Gen Sanjay Verma (Retd)
- Bashir Ali Abbas
- Mohammad Kunhi
- Ambassador Ashok K. Kantha
- Devika Makkat
- Lt Gen Paramjit Singh (Retd)
- VAdm Anil K Chawla (Retd)
- Ambassador Ajay Bisaria
- Dr Tara Kartha
- Shiv Sahai
- Col Shashank Ranjan (Retd)