THE pain of military defeat in “Operation Sindoor” has gone deep into the decision-making quarters of India.

The cost of this miserable failure is very high for ultra-ambitious Narendra Modi amid the obvious collapse of his political legacy, even in his third consecutive term in the corridors of power. India’s post-Pahalgam stance is sufficient to prove it as a regional spoiler. The ruling elite of the BJP overplayed the Pahalgam terrorist attack as a false flag to trigger war rhetoric against Pakistan for political benefits in state elections.

How India politicized the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) to provoke Pakistan was the initial indicator of the expansion of hostilities. Unwise missile and drone strikes compelled Pakistan to respond in kind. The wide-scale embarrassment of India, especially the collapse of the IAF and the paralysis of its missile system, has dented its self-created sense of regional superiority. Since then, Indian state actors and aligned quarters have been striving hard to reverse the situation and portray regional dominance.

Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi’s annual press conference on January 13, 2026, reeks of fabricated narratives designed to justify aggression and coerce a “New Normal” along the LoC. His claims are a pack of lies built on baseless assumptions, aimed at masking India’s failures during the May 2025 conflict.

The so-called “22-minute strike” in “Op Sindoor” is pure fiction; no evidence exists of derailing Pakistan’s decision-making or killing 100 Pakistanis. It is nothing but desperate propaganda to portray India as an invincible power while ignoring how Pakistan’s resilient forces compelled India to beg for a ceasefire amid heavy losses. Contrary to Indian false claims of strikes on terror camps, Pakistan maintains no such infrastructures. It was actually India’s ploy for deterrence signaling, justifying pre-emptive strikes while evading accountability for its own state-sponsored terrorism in illegally occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJ&K). The Indian COAS has miscalculated the scenario by proposing a dedicated Rocket Force following Chinese and Pakistani strategies. This clearly reveals India’s designs to escalate conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbours.

The placement of Pinaka, Pralay and BrahMos into a single command aims to enable swift, short-duration operations below the nuclear threshold, where even minor miscalculations could spiral into nuclear war. Faster decision-making cycles will counter India’s focus on high-intensity precision actions, ensuring credible conventional deterrence without strategic escalation. Bracketing Turkiye with Pakistan on a “misinfo emergency matrix” is hypocritical; India amplified fake news during the conflict via its media and bots. This warns of info-warfare retaliation. Pakistan has opted to respond by projecting the truth.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2025 Annual Report to Congress also reflected the military success of Pakistan during the four-day clash. This rare US acknowledgment validates Pakistan’s battlefield gains, including downing Indian jets with advanced systems like PL-15 missiles. This aligns with President Trump’s repeated claims of averting nuclear war through US mediatory pressure to save the lives of millions. There can be ‘NO New Normal’ based on coercion. Pakistan’s resolve safeguards sovereignty, thwarting India’s nuclear brinkmanship for lasting peace. This is a proven fact: India’s persistent aggressive posture, especially Pakistan-phobia laced with nuclear brinkmanship, poses multiple threats to regional peace.

—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad.

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