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Under the new doctrine, any major terrorist attack is now treated as a strategic trigger that demands a multi-pronged, sustained response, not just a single attack.
Apart from the SIN and IWT suspension, India has launched a series of sustained counter-terrorism operations. (Image: PTI/File)
On April 22, 2026, India marks one year of the Pahalgam terror attack, an attack that shattered the idea of ​​relative peace in the tourist region of Kashmir. The attack, in which 26 civilians were killed, was not just another addition to the long list of terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, it became a turning point. A year later, the attack has become the decisive trigger for a tough, multi-pronged counter-terrorism doctrine in which India now uses military strikes, internal security actions, diplomatic isolation and even water-leveraging tools like the Indus Water Treaty to put pressure on Pakistan.
The government also concluded that if Pakistan-based groups and their state-sponsored networks could continue to use Indian soil as a battleground, India would have to decide the terms, timing and depth of its response. At the heart of this transformation was a combination of overt resolve and covert capability, exemplified by operations like Operation Sindoor.
Indus Water Treaty: A Strategic Leverage
For decades, the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of the 1960s was regarded as a rare pillar of India-Pakistan stability, even after three wars. It allocated the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) entirely to India and the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) mainly to Pakistan, with detailed mechanisms for data-sharing, project-notification and dispute resolution.
The situation changed in Pahalgam within 24 hours. In a five-point action plan announced by the Indian government, the Indus Water Treaty was suspended until Pakistan stopped its support for cross-border terrorism. This move formally “suspended” the treaty, suspending regular meetings of the Permanent Indus Commissioners and the data-exchange mechanism. This indicated that water, once framed as a cooperative norm, is now clearly perceived as a strategic asset that can be used in response to terrorism and security crises.
‘Terrorism and talks cannot co-exist’: a change in principle
For years, India’s counter-terrorism approach oscillated between defensive grid management in Kashmir and occasional high-visibility retaliation such as the Balakot air strikes. After Pahalgam, the emphasis appears to have shifted decisively towards pre-emptive and sustained pressure.
Instead of waiting for attacks and reacting in a timely manner, agencies started focusing on pre-emptive neutralization of modules, continuous monitoring of hybrid terrorists and faster decision-making cycles for retaliation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined this change in the weeks after the attack: “India will not just respond to terror, India will hunt it down. Those who target the lives of innocent people will be taken to task beyond limits even imagined.”
In his speech on Operation Sindoor, he declared that the attackers had tried to “erase the vermilion from the foreheads of our sisters”, and in response, India “destroyed the headquarters of terror.”
In a subsequent Lok Sabha address, Modi laid out the core of India’s new counter-terrorism doctrine. “India will respond decisively to any terrorist attack on its soil,” he said. “Nuclear blackmail will not stop India,” he said.
“Terrorists, their masters and the governments supporting them will be judged on the same scale,” Modi said.
He also uttered a memorable line that has since become the slogan of the new playbook: “Terrorism and negotiations can never co-exist. Water and blood can never co-exist.”
This marked a clear departure from the past, where India’s responses were often framed as “surgical” or “kinetic” actions, with New Delhi returning to its old habit of diplomacy-heavy engagement with Pakistan. Under the new doctrine, any major terrorist attack is now treated as a strategic trigger that demands a multi-pronged, sustained response, not just a single attack.
Operation Sindoor: Attack on the nerves of terror
The most obvious military manifestation of this new doctrine is Operation Sindoor, which was launched on the midnight of May 7–8, 2025. In just 25 minutes, India fired 24 precision missiles and carried out air strikes on nine terrorist targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and mainland Pakistan.
Prime Minister Modi described Vermilion as “a new form of justice”, explaining that India did not strike at random locations, but at the heart of the terror infrastructure. “We struck precisely the nerve center of these terrorists and destroyed their core of operations,” he said in a subsequent parliamentary session.
Major terrorist centers affected in the operation include:
- The headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba is in Muridke (Punjab, Pakistan).
- The main base of Jaish-e-Mohammed is in Bahawalpur (Punjab, Pakistan).
- Several camps in Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Rawalakot, Chakswari, Bhimber, Neelum Valley, Jhelum, Chakwal and Sialkot-Shakar Garh belt.
Home Minister Amit Shah said that more than 100 terrorists were killed and all nine terror hideouts were destroyed, no Pakistani national was killed as the strikes were limited to 100 km inside Pakistan and terror infrastructure was strictly targeted.
Operation Sindoor is not just a one-time strike; Modi has indicated that the operation is “paused” rather than ended, and could be reactivated if Pakistan starts supporting terror again.
Other major anti-terrorism operations after Pahalgam
Beyond the Vermilion and IWT suspensions, India has launched a series of sustained counter-terrorism operations that reflect the new “sustained pressure” doctrine.
Operation Mahadev: Operation Mahadev is the codename of a land-based counter-terrorism operation by India that searched for and eliminated three Pakistani terrorists directly responsible for the Pahalgam attack of 22 April 2025. Unlike Operation Sindoor, which was a strike, missile and air-based operation deep into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan, Operation Mahadev was an intelligence-driven search operation inside Kashmir, which ended in a high-risk jungle encounter about three months after Pahalgam. The operation began in the rugged terrain of South Kashmir, with terrorists moving through areas like Tral, Hapatnar, Bugam and Dachigam and then getting trapped in the forests around Dara/Harwan near Srinagar and Mahadev Ridge near Lidwas.
Operation Amrit: Even after Pahalgam, intelligence-led operations targeting recruitment, logistics and local support networks are continuing along South Kashmir and Jammu border. Security agencies have reported a sharp increase in militant deaths from Pahalgam compared to the year before, underscoring the increasing pressure on local cadres.
Operation Trident: It has strengthened the maritime grid along the Gujarat-Maharashtra-Goa coast, with enhanced surveillance and joint exercises between the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and State Police. The operation aims to prevent any 26/11 style maritime infiltration using real-time intelligence and stringent coastal security protocols.
Operation Vajra: The investigating agencies have conducted a nationwide crackdown on sleeper cells, cyber-terrorist networks and financial channels linked to Pakistan in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Authorities have blocked thousands of SIM cards and arrested more than 700 individuals linked to terror financing and communications support.
Together with Operation Sindoor and the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, these operations create a multi-dimensional architecture where military, internal-security and diplomatic-economic instruments work in lockstep.
The New Normal
A year after Pahalgam, India’s counter-terrorism strategy is no longer about one-time precision strikes and then returning to diplomacy. Now this is the four-track principle:
- military precision
- constant internal security pressure
- Zero-tolerance political message
- hydro-diplomatic leverage
As Home Minister Amit Shah said: “We will not let terror dominate our peace.”
April 21, 2026, 11:36 IST
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