India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire last evening (10 May 2025) after a few tense nights in the Indian subcontinent following ‘Operation Sindoor’ which targeted terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) on 7 May.
India had launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ on May 7 in reply to the ghastly terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. The attack had killed 26 people. India struck nine terror sites deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK). The operation’s targets were selected exclusively on credible intelligence to dismantle infrastructure of UN designated terrorist groups like Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who planned cross-border terrorist attacks, while avoiding civilian harm and avoiding military facilities.
India reiterated that its actions were focused, measured and non-escalatory, with civilian lives and infrastructure deliberately protected. But Pakistan chose to up the ante with a series of unprovoked escalations using artillery guns, drone strikes, missiles and other munitions.
According to highly placed sources India agreed to the ceasefire following a call from Pakistani DGMO at 3.30pm on 10 May 2025 to his Indian counterpart saying Pakistan would not undertake any more strikes specifically requesting a ceasefire.
This outreach followed a series of Indian retaliatory strikes on several Pakistani military bases (also confirmed by Pakistan) which came after two nights of Pakistani attempts to target locations along India’s northern and western borders, including civilian areas.
“In a swift and calibrated response, Indian armed forces carried out a precision strike only at identified military targets. These included technical infrastructure, command and control centre, radar sites, and weapon storage areas. Pakistan military targets at Murid, Chaklala (Rawalpindi), Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, and Sunia were engaged using air-launched precision weapons from our fighter aircraft. Radar sites at Pasrur and Sialkot aviation base were also targeted using precision munitions,” said Indian Wing Commander Vyomika Singh at a an earlier joint press briefing with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Colonel Sofia Qureshi.
It appears that the successful strikes by India on some of Pakistan’s most important military bases like Rahim Yar Khan and Sargodha was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for Pakistan to stop its dangerous and escalatory behaviour. Even a publication like the New York Times which is seen as inmical to India’s Modi government conceded that after India attacked Nur Khan air base reportedly panic spread that India would decapitate Pakistan’s nuclear facilities and they scrambled for a ceasefire.
India has now stated that any act of terrorism will be seen as an act of war by India.
This is a paradigm shift in policy and puts Pakistan on notice which has used terrorists as an instrument of state policy for decades not just against India but against several other countries.
Osama Bin Laden, head of terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda and architect of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US, was found to be living in Abbottabad near a cantonment area of the Pakistani army in a sprawling house. He was killed in a US raid in 2012.
International affairs analysts like Christine Fair have spoken about Pakistan using terrorism as an instrument of state policy “that arches across the countries of South Asia” including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka as well as throughout India.
What India has demonstrated with this operation is that India will no more allow Pakistan to bleed India with a low intensity conflict. There will be high costs attached to any potential terrorist plots hatched in Rawalpindi (headquarters of Pakistani army).
Jammu and Kashmir in India has been thriving for the past couple of years with millions of tourists visiting the stunning paradise on earth. Its real Gross State Domestic Product grew by 7.06% in the fiscal year 2024-25 while estimate for nominal GSDP growth are over 11%.
The Pahalgam terrorist attack was crafted to hit tourism in the region and create communal tensions in India. But what Pakistan got in response was a bloody nose from India and a chance for an ‘off the ramp’ to de-escalate.
The diplomatic read outs from various international stakeholders in this regard are also telling. Not a single country has been critical of India striking terror camps in Pakistan on 7 May. Infact Turkey and EU specifically mention counter-terrorism measures indicating which way the winds of global diplomacy are blowing. This should be a clear signal to Pakistan that it should give up on its communally loaded agenda against India and stop using terrorists in a proxy war againt India and other countries.
Pakistan is an Islamic republic unlike India which is the world’s largest secular liberal democracy. It is a country which continues to have subhuman medieval laws like apostasy and blasphemy being punishable by death. It is also illegally occupying not just parts of India’s Jammu and Kashmir but also Balochistan. Hence it will require massive internal reforms and external pressure for Pakistan to fundamentally change its worldview.
It also remains to be seen for how long the ceasefire will last especially if the current communal and bigoted minded Pakistan Army Chief Asif Munir continues to remain the defacto dictator of Pakistan. This is a man who in the 21st century believes that Muslims and Hindus are different in every way including their ambitions and that their culture was ‘superior’.
Pakistan which is on its 25th bailout package from the IMF is facing grave socio-economic challenges. The army’s popularity in Pakistan is also at an all time low after former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest. Some commentators believe that the terrorist attack in Pahalgam was orchestrated by Munir to deflect attention from the downward spiral that Pakistan is in and secure an extension of his term as the army chief which expires later this year.
It will be also interesting to know what happens in Pakistan next which has a history of hanging or ousting its leaders both civilian and military given the events of the past few days. There are people in Pakistan who reportedly are unhappy about a religious fanatic like Munir bringing their country close to destrcution because of his bigotry.
An important ally that Pakistan had in this whole episode were sections of the international media that were peddling fake news taking Pakistani officials at face value without any evidence including but not limited to Pakistan blowing up five Indian jets and taking Indian soldiers prisoners (Bloomberg), Pakistan capturing an Indian female pilot (Al-Jazeera) and India reaching out for a ceasefire first (CNN). In fact Pakistan has not contested Indian Foreign Secretary’s statement that Pakistani DGMO directly called his Indian counterpart on 10 May and the two sides agreed to halt all military actions, on land, at sea, and in the air.
On the other hand, the massive damage caused in Pakistan with India’s targeted strikes was being shared by Pakistanis themselves.
The hits on Pakistan happened because of its failed air defence system which is reportedly Chinese. However, this blatant breach of its air defence system is not being reported by international media suggesting there is more here than meets the eye.
In contrast geo-political experts are hailing India’s air defence system, a fact that is being intentionally omitted from international media coverage.
Additionally, most international media outlets have failed to report that Abdul Rauf Azhar, a senior Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander long suspected of orchestrating the December 2002 abduction, torture and beheading of WSJ journalist Daniel Pearl was reportedly killed in Indian strikes.
The dubious role of legacy media in this situation raises some serious questions and should invite investigations by security agencies. While the credibility of many of these organisations was lost after years of lying about so called ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that led to the second Gulf War, it is a matter of concern why they would be allegedly doing China’s bidding.
Support our Journalism
No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.
