Indian ‘new normal’ dismantled

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on April 24, 2021, that India would identify, track, and punish all terrorists and their backers.

• The Prime Minister’s statement was intended to be heard globally, indicating a firm resolve to take action against the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

• On May 6-7, India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, striking nine terrorist targets in Pakistan, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahiddin.

• India clarified its response was focused, measured, and non-escalatory, and that any attack on military targets in India would invite a suitable response.

• In response to Pakistan’s escalation, India foiled drone and missile attacks, and delivered a fitting response to intense artillery shelling.

• On May 10, India targeted 11 Pakistani military bases across the country, which Pakistan interceded with a “ceasefire” plea.

• On May 12, Modi laid down India’s new doctrine to fight terrorism, underlining a ‘new normal’ in India-Pakistan relations.

• The international community pressured India to show restraint, but India remained hesitant to call Pakistan’s nuclear bluff.

• A change in the Indian approach became apparent after the 2016 army camp attack in Uri, where India launched cross-Line of Control surgical strikes.

• Following the Pulwama attack in February 2019, India retaliated with a strike on JeM’s training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, indicating that India would raise the costs for Pakistan if it targeted India.

India-Pakistan Relations: A New Normal

• The Prime Minister’s ‘new normal’ strategy in India-Pakistan relations has been evolving for some time.

• The new normal includes no unpunished terrorist acts in India, and Pakistan will bear the cost if it continues to use terrorism as a state policy against India.

• India’s response to terrorism from Pakistan will not be impeded by Pakistan’s calls to the international community to pressure India due to the danger of escalation to nuclear exchanges.

• India will not allow Pakistan to take cover under the excuse that “non state” or “third parties” beyond Pakistani state control were responsible for a terrorist strike against India.

• The Prime Minister highlighted the linkage between the Pakistani state and the terrorists, stating that the Pakistani state supports terrorists to fight a proxy war against India.

• India will not gather and furnish evidence of terrorist attacks in India to Pakistan and the international community.

• The new normal also includes a change in war-fighting strategy, with enhanced Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, precision weaponry, and drones and loitering munitions.

• The new normal emphasizes India’s war against terrorism as its own, with support from outside depending on the global situation.

• The new normal also includes a shift in India’s cooperation on matters of water sharing and trade, with any dialogue resting upon Pakistan abjuring terrorism against India and the return of POJK to India.

• The “New India” under the Prime Minister is free from self-doubt and inhibitions, indicating a paradigm shift in how India deals with terrorism.