On May 6, India launched Operation Sindoor in retaliation to the April 22 militant attack on Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which left 26 civilians dead. The Indian government accused Pakistan of having supported the group that conducted the attack. So far, the response has consisted of missiles launched from Indian territory, striking 9 targets in Pakistan proper as well as the Pakistan-occupied parts of Kashmir.
India’s Defense Ministry notes that all the targets were part of a terrorist infrastructure, and that the strikes deliberately excluded Pakistani military sites. Even so, Pakistan’s prime minister has confirmed that retaliatory strikes are already underway against Indian targets.
Conventional military capability aside, neither country can afford to underestimate the other given both have nuclear weapons capabilities. More, Pakistan is trying to climb out of a historic political and economic crisis, while India is trying to parlay its regional successes into global power. A military escalation between the two not only has the potential to disrupt South Asia but would also impact geopolitical dynamics involving the US, Russia and China.
