NEW DELHI: India's long-standing doctrine of strategic restraint has shifted toward a sharper, more assertive security posture shaped by repeated terror attacks and changing public expectations, argue analysts John Spencer and Lauren Dagan Amoss. They contend that India has crossed a decisive threshold in how it responds to terrorism, manages escalation with Pakistan, and signals deterrence to both Islamabad and Beijing.
According to them, India had already begun moving away from the language of restraint over the past decade. Major Pakistan-based terrorist attacks-Uri in 2016, Balakot in 2019, and Pahalgam in 2025-demonstrated that limited and predictable responses failed to deter cross-border militancy. Such predictability, they argue, enabled groups to prepare for subsequent strikes, undermining the belief that terrorism could be contained without risking interstate conflict.
Operation Sindoor marked the crystallization of this shift. India no longer waits for lengthy attribution processes or for international endorsement before acting. Instead, it has embraced a doctrine rooted in coercive clarity, pre-emption and rapid retaliation when citizens are threatened. The use of long-range fires, drone swarms, loitering munitions and real-time integrated intelligence reflected not a one-off change but a new operating logic.
The earlier assumption that restraint inherently prevents escalation has eroded. Pakistan-backed groups exploited the grey zone between terrorism and overt aggression, calculating that India would avoid forceful retaliation. Limited responses created clear patterns, which the authors say invited further violence.
India now treats major attacks as acts of war rather than law-enforcement matters. During Operation Sindoor, leadership formalised a doctrine of compellence, making pre-emption an accepted sovereign right. This shift, they argue, is institutional and not tied to any single crisis.
On nuclear policy, India maintains its No First Use stance publicly but has introduced calibrated ambiguity to reduce adversary miscalculation. With MIRVs, higher readiness levels and regular SSBN patrols, India's deterrent is moving toward operational readiness rather than symbolic assurance.
The shift extends to counterterrorism, where proxy groups and their enabling networks are treated as legitimate targets. Actions directed at Pakistan also serve as signals to China. During Operation Sindoor, India's interception of Chinese-origin systems provided insights into Beijing's capabilities, reinforcing India's two-front deterrence logic. (ANI)
Also Read: Op Sindoor Fallout: Pakistan's Low-Profile PoK Terror