Operation Sindoor: Rewriting the India Pakistan Rulebook

Edited by: Air Vice Marshal Anil Golani (Retd)

This monograph explores the dynamics of India-Pakistan relations in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. A relationship that had frayed considerably since the last decade took a turn into a new abyss after the sinister and despicable terror attack that killed 26 innocent tourists, singled out on the basis of their religion, in Pahalgam on 22 April 2025. Actions taken by India across the Diplomatic, Information, Military and Economic (DIME) paradigm have been unprecedented leading to rewriting of the rulebook of India-Pakistan relations. The monograph examines Pakistan’s compulsions, India’s military retaliation of deterrence by punishment and the challenge of cross border terrorism under the nuclear shadow. The authors give their perspectives on the dynamics of military action, Pakistan’s perception and its narrative along with its alliances, apart from the risk of escalation into a conventional conflict under the nuclear overhang.

Edited by: Air Vice Marshal Anil Golani (Retd)

Air Vice Marshal Anil Golani is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an Instrument Rating Instructor and Examiner, commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in December 1982. He commanded an Air Defence Direction Centre and an operational base and is one of the few to have served in senior ranks in both the Joint Services Commands of the country, the Andaman & Nicobar Command as the Air Force Component Commander and Strategic Forces Command as the Chief Staff Officer (Air Vector). His other joint Services appointments include Air Officer Commanding Maritime Air Operations in Mumbai and Chief Instructor, Air Force, at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. AVM Golani has completed the Staff Course, Higher Air Command Course and a year’s course in International Security and Strategy at the Royal College of Defence Studies, London. He superannuated from service in November 2019. An avid writer and author, he has written several articles on air power, national security, strategy and integration of the armed forces. He has also co-edited three books, Air Power and Emerging Technologies, Indian Air Force in its Centennial Decade and Emerging Technologies and Changing Dimensions of Threats for India. He took over as Additional Director General of Centre for Aerospace Power & Strategic Studies (CAPSS) on May 7, 2021, and Director General of CAPSS on April 1, 2024.

Contents

Introduction
Anil Golani

1. Operation Sindoor: An Overview
Anil Golani

2. The Military Dimension of Operation Sindoor
Ashish Vohra

3. Operation Sindoor: Pakistan’s Perceptions, Projections and Evolving Dynamics
Shalini Chawla

4. The Challenge of Cross-Border Terrorism under Nuclear Shadow—A Revisit through Operation Sindoor
Manpreet Sethi