India's commitment trap
Following the ceasefire ending the Pakistan-India crisis of May 2025, Indian Prime Minister Modi declared a "New Normal" according to which India's "Operation Sindoor" had been "paused", and any future terrorist incident in India would immediately lead to the resumption of military operations against Pakistan without any proof of Pakistan's responsibility being provided. Modi also claimed that India would not tolerate Pakistan's alleged "nuclear blackmail" nor differentiate between the sponsors and perpetrators of terrorism. This declaration has placed India in a "Commitment Trap" that would trigger an Indian military offensive against Pakistan in response to any terrorist incident in India.
However, the Modi government's response to the bomb blast in New Delhi on 10 November, in which 13 people were killed, has so far been muted. Despite declaring this incident a terrorist attack and arresting 8 Kashmiris on charges of complicity, India has not accused Pakistan nor enforced its new normal. In fact, the Indian cabinet adopted an anodyne resolution on 12 November which studiously refrained from accusing Pakistan. Modi described the incident as a "conspiracy", and Home Minister Amit Shah vowed to hunt down the "culprits". Investigators said that this "terror incident" was perpetuated by "anti-national forces" involving "an inter-state and transnational terror module" and as a "white collar syndicate including radicalised professionals".
A second blast at a police station in Srinagar four days later was described as "an accidental explosion" by the police, adding that "any other speculation into the cause of........





















Toi Staff
Sabine Sterk
Penny S. Tee
Gideon Levy
Mark Travers Ph.d
Gilles Touboul
Daniel Orenstein
John Nosta